Tag Archives: enzyme

Scientists Reveal Quirky Feature of Lyme Disease Bacteria

By Guest PostApril 15, 2013Environmentantioxidant enzyme, bloodstream, borrelia burgdorferi, borrelia enzymes, cape cod, catalyze, christine vazquez, cobalt, defense mechanism, enzyme, frank gherardini, hillary clark, hormone, immune system, j daphne aguirre, james posey, jhu, johns hopkins university, liver produces hepcidin, lyme disease bacteria, mak saito, manganese, metal trafficking, metalloproteins, oceanographic institution, pathogen, pathogens of iron, proteins, shaina palmere, superoxide dismutase, university of georgia, university of texas, valeria culotta, vitamin supplements, whoi, woods hole, zinc

Unlike most organisms, they don’t need iron, but they crave manganese

Scientists have confirmed that the pathogen that causes Lyme Disease—unlike any other known organism—can exist without iron, a metal that all other life needs to make proteins and enzymes. Instead of iron, the bacteria substitute manganese to make an essential enzyme, thus eluding immune system defenses that protect the body by starving pathogens of iron.

To cause disease, Borrelia burgdorferi requires unusually high levels of manganese, scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Texas reported. Their study, published March 22, 2013, in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, may explain some mysteries about why Lyme Disease is slow-growing and hard to detect and treat. The findings also open the door to search for new therapies to thwart the bacterium by targeting manganese. (more…)

Gene therapy may aid failing hearts

By Guest PostApril 4, 2013Health2 deoxy atp, adenosine 5 triphosphate, alya red, american heart association, animal study, atp, barcelona superconducting center, cardiac muscle fibers, charles murry, datp, DNA, electromechanical computational model, embryonic growth, enzyme, failing hearts, gene therapy, heart attacks, heart conditions, heart failure, heart muscle function, mechanically stressed, michael regnier, muscle contraction, nucleotide, university of washington

The potential of gene therapy to boost heart muscle function was explored in a recent University of Washington animal study. The findings suggest that it might be possible to use this approach to treat patients whose hearts have been weakened by heart attacks and other heart conditions.

Michael Regnier, UW professor and vice chair of bioengineering, Charles Murry, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Biology and co-director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, and Sarah Nowakowski, a UW graduate student in bioengineering, led the study. The findings appeared online March 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

Study Shows How Vitamin E Can Help Prevent Cancer

By Guest PostMarch 30, 2013Healthakt, anti cancer effect, anti cancer property, cancer cell survival, cancer prevention, chemical analysis, ching shih chen, enzyme, formulation, gujarat, hao chieh chiu, India, mutation, naval kapuriya, optimize, phlpp1, prevent cancer, protein, pten gene, saurashtra university, tocopherols, treatment, tumor cell death, vitamin e

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have identified an elusive anti-cancer property of vitamin E that has long been presumed to exist, but difficult to find.

Many animal studies have suggested that vitamin E could prevent cancer, but human clinical trials following up on those findings have not shown the same benefits. (more…)

How a Microbial Biorefinery Regulates Genes

By Guest PostMarch 1, 2013Sciencealternatives to petroleum, amino acid, aromatic compounds, biomass, biorefinery, breann brown, brown university, consumption of lignin, depolymerize, digesting lignin, DNA, dna binding activity, enzyme, gene expression, genes, high value chemicals, jason sello, jennifer davis, kind of protein, lignin, marr family, microbial biorefinery, microorganisms, pcav, pcav dna complex, phenomenon, plant biomass, protein crystallography, protocatechuate, rebecca page, streptomyces bacteria, technique, Technology, transcription factor, variety of biofuels

Digesting lignin, a highly stable polymer that accounts for up to a third of biomass, is a limiting step to producing a variety of biofuels. Researchers at Brown have figured out the microscopic chemical switch that allows Streptomyces bacteria to get to work, breaking lignin down into its constituent parts.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Microorganisms that can break down plant biomass into the precursors of biodiesel or other commodity chemicals might one day be used to produce alternatives to petroleum. But the potential of this “biorefinery” technology is limited by the fact that most microorganisms cannot break down lignin, a highly stable polymer that makes up as much as a third of plant biomass.

Streptomyces bacteria are among few microorganisms known to degrade and consume lignin. Now a group of researchers at Brown University has unlocked the genetic and molecular mechanisms behind a key part of that process. The results are published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research. (more…)

Revealing the Secrets of Motility in Archaea

By Guest PostFebruary 24, 2013Scienceabrahjyoti ghosh, adenosine triphosphate, archaea, assembling archaella, atomic resolution, atp, atp in solution, atpase, bacterial flagellum, bacterial type, berkeley lab, c terminal domain, crystallography, ctd, domain of life, dynamic play, e coli, energy, enzyme, established model systems, filamentary grappling hook, flab filament, flah eye, flai, flai genes, flai protein structure, gareth williams, generate energy, Germany, glue, human cells, human gut, hyper flagellated, hyper motile mutants, iv pilus, john tainer, max planck institute, microbiota, microorganisms, motility, motor, mpi, n terminal domain, ntd, phosphate, protein structure, release, saxs, secretion of proteins, sonja verena albers, sulfolobus acidocaldarius, terrestrial microbiology, xray diffraction

Scientists from Berkeley Lab and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology analyze a unique microbial motor

The protein structure of the motor that propels archaea has been characterized for the first time by a team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Germany’s Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Terrestrial Microbiology.

The motility structure of this third domain of life has long been called a flagellum, a whip-like filament that, like the well-studied bacterial flagellum, rotates like a propeller. But although the archaeal structure has a similar function, it is so profoundly different in structure, genetics, and evolution that the researchers argue it deserves its own name: archaellum. (more…)

Aging Cells Lose Their Grip on DNA Rogues

By Guest PostFebruary 3, 2013Scienceabigail peterson, aging bodies, aging cells, balls of protein, barbara mcclintock, brown university, chromatin, chromosomes, computational biologist, desirable genes, DNA, edward peckham, eliza hamm, enzyme, essential genes, euchromatin formations, faire, genetic material, genome, genomic havoc, heterochromatin, heterochromatin prison system, high stakes warfare, hiv drugs, human fibroblast cells, human retrotransposons, jayameenakshi manivannan, jill kreiling, john sedivy, l1, marco de cecco, mobile strands, molecular parasites, nicola neretti, nobel prize, nucleosomes, parasitic strands, reverse transcriptases, rna, sara hillenmeyer, senescent, senescent cells, steven criscione, technique, transposable elements, transposons, transposons in maize, useful genes

Transposable elements are mobile strands of DNA that insert themselves into chromosomes with mostly harmful consequences. Cells try to keep them locked down, but in a new study, Brown University researchers report that aging cells lose their ability to maintain this control. The result may be a further decline in the health of senescent cells and of the aging bodies they compose.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Even in our DNA there is no refuge from rogues that prey on the elderly. Parasitic strands of genetic material called transposable elements — transposons — lurk in our chromosomes, poised to wreak genomic havoc. Cells have evolved ways to defend themselves, but in a new study, Brown University researchers describe how cells lose this ability as they age, possibly resulting in a decline in their function and health. (more…)

Pesticides and Parkinson’s: UCLA Researchers Uncover Further Proof of a Link

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2013Environment, Healthaaron lulla, aldehyde dehydrogenase, aldh, aldh activity, arthur g fitzmaurice, benomyl, benomyl exposure, brain malformations, california, carcinogenesis, case, cellular event, central valley, common chemical, culprit, damage, degeneration of neurons, disease, dopal, dopaminergic neurons, drifting particles, environmental protection agency, enzyme, genetic variations, hoa a lam, jeff bronstein, link, lisa barnhill, liver tumors, maneb, mid brain, molecular tweezers, neurologist, neuron, neurotransmitter, nigel t maidment, paraquat, parkinson's, parkinsons symptoms, pesticide, progression of disease, protein, reproductive effect, rigidity, slowed movement, speech, spray, substantia nigra, therapeutic drugs, toxicological effect, toxin, tremor, ucla, ziram, α synuclein

Study suggests potential new target in fight against debilitating disease

For several years, neurologists at UCLA have been building a case that a link exists between pesticides and Parkinson’s disease. To date, paraquat, maneb and ziram — common chemicals sprayed in California’s Central Valley and elsewhere — have been tied to increases in the disease, not only among farmworkers but in individuals who simply lived or worked near fields and likely inhaled drifting particles.

Now, UCLA researchers have discovered a link between Parkinson’s and another pesticide, benomyl, whose toxicological effects still linger some 10 years after the chemical was banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (more…)

Boosting Galactan Sugars Could Boost Biofuel Production

By Guest PostDecember 23, 2012Environmentai oikawa, april liwanag, arabidopsis thaliana, atmosphere, berit ebert, berkeley lab, bioenergy fuel crops, biofuels, carbon neutral, carsten rautengarten, cellulosic biomass, denmark, diesel, emilie rennie, enzyme, ethanol, ferment, fuels, galactan, galactan synthase, galactose, gals1, gals2, gals3, gasoline, gt92 enzyme, gt92 proteins, henrik scheller, jet fuels, mads clausen, mathias andersen, mechanical stress, miscanthus, overexpressors, pentoses, plant cell walls, polymer, six carbon sugar, snowfall, switchgrass, technical university, wind, yeast, yves verhertbruggen, β galactan synthase

Collaboration at JBEI Identifies the First Enzyme Linked to Galactan Synthesis

Galactan is a polymer of galactose, a six-carbon sugar that can be readily fermented by yeast into ethanol and is a target of interest for researchers in advanced biofuels produced from cellulosic biomass. Now an international collaboration led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has identified the first enzyme capable of substantially boosting the amount of galactan in plant cell walls.

Unlike ethanol, advanced biofuels synthesized from the sugars in plant cells walls could replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuels on a gallon-for-gallon basis and be dropped into today’s engines and infrastructures with no modifications required. Also, adanced biofuels have the potential to be carbon-neutral, meaning they could be burned without adding excess carbon to the atmosphere. Among the key challenges to making advanced biofuels cost competitive is finding ways to maximize the amount of plant cell wall sugars that can be fermented into fuels. (more…)