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Study of the machinery of cells reveals clues to neurological disorder

By Guest PostMay 16, 2013Sciencebiogenesis, cell, charcot, common neurological disorder, crop plants, cross talk, disease causing mutations, embo reports, energy factories, eth zurich, fatty acids, fragmentation of mitochondria, function, humans, kate mcintosh, marie, metabolism, michael schrader, mitochondria, organelles, organelles peroxisomes, peroxisomal division, peroxisomes, reactive oxygen species, researcher, sofia guimaraes, symptoms, tooth disease, touch sensation, uk, university of exeter, yeast

Investigation by researchers from the University of Exeter and ETH Zurich has shed new light on a protein which is linked to a common neurological disorder called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

The team has discovered that a protein previously identified on mitochondria – the energy factories of the cell – is also found on the fat-metabolising organelles peroxisomes, suggesting a closer link between the two organelles.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is currently incurable and affects around one in every 2,500 people in the UK, meaning that it is one of the most common inherited neurological disorders, thus understanding the molecular basis of the disease is of great importance. Symptoms can range from tremors and loss of touch sensation in the feet and legs to difficulties with breathing, swallowing, speaking, hearing and vision. (more…)

A Tailored Pair of Genes

By Guest PostNovember 22, 2011Scienceagriculture, alfalfa like legume, ancestor of legumes, ancestral genes, ancient plants, asteroid, backbone of protein, bacteria, beans, cretaceous period, crop plants, demise of the dinosaurs, dinosaurs, disaster, earth, eggs, fertilizers, genes, genetically engineer legumes, genomes, humans, legumes, living together, major nutrient, medicago truncatula, model, nevin young, nitrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer, nitrogen fixation, nitrogen fixing bacteria, nonsynthetic nitrogen fertilizer, peanuts, peas, sequencing genome, soybeans, sperm, synthetic fertilizer, university of minnesota

*For ancient plants, two genes were definitely better than one*

In the wake of the disaster that killed the dinosaurs, the ancestors of today’s crop plants reinvented themselves.

They doubled their genomes, and in that single act set the stage for feeding the world 60 million years later.

In a study published in the Nov. 16 issue of the journal Nature, researchers from the University of Minnesota and other institutions recount how sequencing the genome of a model, alfalfa-like legume revealed the monumental benefits that flowed when the ancestor of legumes acquired an extra copy of every gene. (more…)

Largest-Ever Map of Interactions of Plant Proteins Produced

By Guest PostJuly 31, 2011Scienceagriculture, arabidopsis, arabidopsis interactome mapping consortium, arabidopsis network map, arabidopsis thaliana, crop plants, interactome, joseph ecker, map of protein interactions, model organism for biological studies of plants, model plant, mustard plant, national science foundation, pharmaceuticals, plant growth and disease resistance, protein to protein, salk institute

*New map of protein interactions in model plant may help scientists improve plant species used in agriculture and pharmaceuticals*

An international consortium of scientists has produced the first systematic network map of interactions that occur between proteins in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. (Arabidopsis is a mustard plant that has 27,000 proteins and serves as a popular model organism for biological studies of plants, analogous to lab rats that serve as popular model organisms for biological studies of animals.)

Known as an “interactome,” the new Arabidopsis network map defines 6,205 protein-to-protein Arabidopsis interactions involving 2,774 individual proteins. By itself, this map doubles the volume of data on protein interactions in plants that is currently available. (more…)

Tag Archives: crop plants

Study of the machinery of cells reveals clues to neurological disorder

A Tailored Pair of Genes

Largest-Ever Map of Interactions of Plant Proteins Produced