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Clearing a Potential Road Block to Bisabolane

By Guest PostJanuary 14, 2012Scienceabies grandis, abies grandis α bisabolene synthase, advanced biofuels, agbis, andy degiovanni, berkeley lab, biofuel, biosynthetic alternative, bisabolane, ca, chemical compounds, cofactors, d2 diesel fuel, emeryville, enzyme, evolutionary heritage, flavorings, fragrances, grand fir, green energy, inhibitors, jay keasling, jose pereira, masood hadi, microbes, microbial based production, pamela peralta yahya, paul adams, precursor, protein, protein crystal structure, renewable alternative, resolution, ryan mcandrew, synthases in plants, terpene class, terpenoid synthases, three dimensional crystal structure, trucking industry, united states, x ray crystallography

*Joint BioEnergy Institute Researchers Identify Key Enzyme Structure*

The recent discovery that bisabolane, a member of the terpene class of chemical compounds used in fragrances and flavorings, holds high promise as a biosynthetic alternative to D2 diesel fuel has generated keen interest in the green energy community and the trucking industry. Now a second team of researchers with the U.S Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has determined the three-dimensional crystal structure of a protein that is key to boosting the microbial-based production of bisabolane as an advanced biofuel.

The JBEI research team, led by bioengineers Paul Adams and Jay Keasling, solved the protein crystal structure of an enzyme in the Grand fir (Abies grandis) that synthesizes bisabolene, the immediate terpene precursor to bisabolane. The performance of this enzyme – the Abies grandis α-bisabolene synthase (AgBIS) – when engineered into microbes, has resulted in a bottleneck that hampers the conversion by the microbes of simple sugars into bisabolene. (more…)

UCLA Physicists Report Nanotechnology Feat With Proteins

By Guest PostDecember 24, 2011Scienceatp, class of enzymes, elastic, enzyme, giovanni zocchi, gk, guanylate kinase, human hair, kinases, liquid, liquids flow, mechanical energy, mechanical response, nanomechanical measurements, nanometer, Nanotechnology, phosphate group, protein molecules, resolution, solid, stress, university of Illinois, visco elastic, visco elastic transition, viscoelastic behavior, viscoelastic regime, viscous, yong wang

UCLA physicists have made nanomechanical measurements of unprecedented resolution on protein molecules.

The new measurements, by UCLA physics professor Giovanni Zocchi and former UCLA physics graduate student Yong Wang, are approximately 100 times higher in resolution than previous mechanical measurements, a nanotechnology feat which reveals an isolated protein molecule, surprisingly, is neither a solid nor a liquid.

“Proteins are the molecular machines of life, the molecules we are made of,” Zocchi said. “We have found that sometimes they behave as a solid and sometimes as a liquid. (more…)

E. Coli Bacteria Engineered to Eat Switchgrass and Make Transportation Fuels

By Guest PostDecember 4, 2011Environment, Scienceagricultural waste, anthe george, bacteria, berkeley lab, biofuel production, biofuels, blake simmons, bradley holmes, cellulolytic, cellulose, chemistry, christopher voigt, danielle tullman ercek, diesel, e coli, enzyme, eric steen, gasoline, green, gregory bokinsky, hemicellulolytic, hemicelluloses, ionic liquid, jay keasling, jbei, jeffrey dietrich, jet fuels, joint bioenergy institute, lignin, lignocellulosic biomass, lignocellulosic feedstocks, microbes, milestone, molten salt, pamela peralta yahya, renewable alternative, strains of escherichia coli bacteria, sugars, switchgrass biomass, synthesize, taek soon lee, woody material

*Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) Researchers Reach Milestone on the Road to Biofuels*

A milestone has been reached on the road to developing advanced biofuels that can replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuels with a domestically-produced clean, green, renewable alternative.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have engineered the first strains of Escherichia coli bacteria that can digest switchgrass biomass and synthesize its sugars into all three of those transportation fuels. What’s more, the microbes are able to do this without any help from enzyme additives. (more…)

Chemical in Spice Turmeric Kickstarts Cancer-Killing Mechanisms in Human Saliva

By Guest PostSeptember 18, 2011Health, Scienceanti aging agent, anti inflammatory effects, cancer enhancing cytokines, curcumin, enzyme, eri srivatsan, head and neck cancer, hpv virus, human saliva, ikk, India, kappa β kinase, marilene wang, medicinal properties, menstrual cramps, nfκβ, not toxic, nuclear factor kappa β, oral cancers, poultice, pro inflammatory cytokines, signaling molecules, south asian and middle eastern cooking, spice turmeric, transcription factor, turmeric, wound healing

Curcumin, the main component in the spice turmeric, suppresses a cell signaling pathway that drives the growth of head and neck cancer, according to a pilot study using human saliva by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The inhibition of the pathway also correlated with reduced expression of a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines, or signaling molecules, in the saliva that promote cancer growth, said senior study author Dr. Marilene Wang, a professor of head and neck surgery and a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher. (more…)

Yale Students’ Trip to Rainforest Yields New Way to Degrade Plastic

By Guest PostAugust 7, 2011EnvironmentAmazon rainforest, biological activity, bioremediation, degrade polyurethane, endophytes, enzyme, equador, fungi, howard hughes medical institute, jeffrey huang, jonathan r russell, kaury kucera, new haven, organisms, plastic, pria anand, rainforest plants, yale rainforest expedition, yale students, yale undergraduates

Organisms discovered by Yale undergraduates growing within fungi in the Amazon Rainforest can degrade polyurethane, a findings that may lead to innovative ways to reduce waste in the world’s landfills.

The paper, accepted for publication in July by the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, is the work of undergraduates who participated in Yale’s Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory course, funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. (more…)

One Tiny Electron Could be Key to Future Drugs That Repair Sunburn

By Guest PostJuly 30, 2011Scienceatoms in the dna molecule, aziz sancar, biological functions, cancer, cells of plants, chuang tan, cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer, cyclobutane ring, damaged dna, dongping zhong, electron, enzyme, enzyme photolyase, genetic mutations, key biological molecules, ohio state, ohio state university, proteins, repair of sunburn, source of energy, sun damaged dna, ultraviolet light, zheyun liu

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers who have been working for nearly a decade to piece together the process by which an enzyme repairs sun-damaged DNA have finally witnessed the entire process in full detail in the laboratory.

What they saw contradicts fundamental notions of how key biological molecules break up during the repair of sunburn – and that knowledge could someday lead to drugs or even lotions that could heal sunburn in humans. (more…)

Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Severely Impairs Reproduction in Atlantic Croaker, Researchers Find

By Guest PostJune 16, 2011Environment, Scienceandrogens, aromatase, atlantic croaker, coast of louisiana, coastal regions, dead zone, enzyme, estrogens, female sex hormones, fish population, gulf of mexico, hypoxic area, hypoxic coastal zone, hypoxic dead zone, impairment of reproductive output, low oxygen waters, male sex hormones, marine animals, marine science, marine scientist, masculinized, neuroendocrine function, ovarian masculinization, oxygen levels, peter thomas, reproductive impairment, saydur rahman, second largest seasonal hypoxic zone, sperm and eggs, the university of texas at austin, thomas and rahman, world

AUSTIN, Texas — Atlantic croaker living in the large Gulf of Mexico “Dead Zone” exhibit severe reproductive impairment with potential long-term impacts on the fish’s population abundance, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin’s Marine Science Institute have found.

Males and females were found to produce dramatically fewer sperm and eggs. In addition, females in the hypoxic Dead Zone waters were masculinized — some 20 percent actually produced sperm in their ovaries. The sex ratio was also heavily skewed toward males in the hypoxic area. (more…)

Polluted Air Leads To Disease by Promoting Widespread Inflammation

By Guest PostApril 20, 2011Environment, Healthanimal model, cellular activity, chronic inhalation, enzyme, exposure to pollution, il-12, immune system, inflammation, inflammatory monocytes, interleukin-12, mcp-1, monocyte chemoattractant protein, monocytes, nadph oxidase, ohio state university, polluted air, protein, sanjay rajagopalan, thomas kampfrath, tlr4, tnfa, toll-like receptor 4, tumor necrosis factor alpha, white blood cells

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Chronic inhalation of polluted air appears to activate a protein that triggers the release of white blood cells, setting off events that lead to widespread inflammation, according to new research in an animal model.

This finding narrows the gap in researchers’ understanding of how prolonged exposure to pollution can increase the risk for cardiovascular problems and other diseases. (more…)

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