Biology – Page 9 – PossibleThreat Articles

Research maps key signaling pathways linking calcium entry and exit in activated T cells

October 8, 2019 0 Comments Biology, Biotechnology, Genetics, Immune System, Lymphoma, Molecular Biology, Osteoporosis, Women's Health

Like entrance and exit doors on a building, a cell's outer surface has doors — channels, pumps, and transporters that selectively control what molecules enter or exit. In the immune system, T cells possess unique sets of 'doors', including ones that specialize in calcium ion movement. Now, researchers describe a unique mechanism for coordinating these calcium entrance and exit 'doors' on T cells that helps them carry out their jobs and ensure normal immune function.

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Voltage gated calcium channels 'read' electric patterns in embryos to create cartilage and bone

October 7, 2019 0 Comments Biology, Developmental Biology, Genetics, Molecular Biology, Nervous System, Osteoporosis, Stem Cells, Women's Health

Scientists have revealed how the electrical patterns formed within an embryo initiate a cascade of molecular changes that culminate in the development of cartilage and bone. Prior studies have shown these electrical patterns appear like blueprints of the tissues and organs that eventually take shape as the embryo matures. The new study demonstrates that voltage gated calcium channels 'read' the electrical pattern, setting off the expression of genes that guide differentiation to mature cells.

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Genome-edited bull passes on hornless trait to calves

October 7, 2019 0 Comments Bacteria, Biology, Dogs, Environmental Science, Evolutionary Biology, Ice Ages

For the past two years, researchers have been studying six offspring of a dairy bull, genome-edited to prevent it from growing horns. Scientists report that none of the bull's offspring developed horns, as expected, and blood work and physical exams of the calves found they were all healthy. The researchers also sequenced and analyzed the genomes of the calves and their parents looking for any unexpected changes.

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A timekeeper for siesta

October 7, 2019 0 Comments animals, Biology, Brain Injury, Disorders and Syndromes, Eye Care, Insects (including Butterflies), Insomnia, Insomnia Research, Nervous System

External stimuli can rearrange the hierarchy of neuronal networks and influence behavior. This was demonstrated by scientists using the circadian clock of the fruit fly as an example.

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Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019: How cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability

October 7, 2019 0 Comments Anemia, Biology, Biotechnology, Brain Tumor, COPD, Extreme Survival, Genetics, Hypertension

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is being awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr., Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza for identifying molecular machinery that regulates the activity of genes in response to varying levels of oxygen.

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Scientists find timekeepers of gut's immune system

October 5, 2019 0 Comments Biology, Biotechnology, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Gastrointestinal Problems, Genetics, Immune System, Insomnia Research, Lymphoma

Shift work and jet lag disrupt not just sleep cycles, but feeding and digestive cycles as well. Such disruptions have been linked to risk of obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, infection, and other conditions. Now, researchers have identified an immune cell that helps set the daily rhythms of the gut. The findings open the door to new treatments for digestive ailments targeting such cells.

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Scientists uncover genetic similarities among species that use sound to navigate

October 4, 2019 0 Comments Biology, Developmental Biology, Dolphins and Whales, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Life Sciences, New Species, Wild Animals

Insect-eating bats navigate effortlessly in the dark and dolphins and killer whales gobble up prey in murky waters thanks in part to specific changes in a set of 18 genes involved in the development of the cochlear ganglion — a group of nerves that transmit sound from the ear to the brain, according to a new study.

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Analysis of HIV-1B in Indonesia illuminates transmission dynamics of the virus

October 4, 2019 0 Comments Biology, Bird Flu Research, HIV and AIDS, Infectious Diseases, New Species, Sexual Health, STD, Virology

Research into the molecular phylogeny (evolutionary history) of the HIV-1B virus in Indonesia has succeeded in illuminating the transmission period and routes for three clades (main branches of the virus). This includes a clade thought to be unique to Indonesia, as well as clades that spread from Thailand, Europe and America in the 1970s and 1980s.

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New fluorescence method reveals signatures of individual microbes

October 4, 2019 0 Comments Batteries, Biochemistry, Biology, Biotechnology, Electricity, Genetics, Graphene, Microbiology

Researchers have developed a new method that reveals the unique fluorescence patterns produced by individual cells in mixtures of bacteria, yeast and fungi. They combined confocal microscopy with micro-spectroscopy to determine the fluorescence signatures from different types of microbes. They trained machine learning systems to analyze the images and identify different individual cells and cell-types automatically, even those with very similar shapes and sizes.

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Were hot, humid summers the key to life's origins?

October 4, 2019 0 Comments Biochemistry, Biology, Cell Biology, Charles Darwin, Drought, Environmental Issues, Evolution, Nature of Water, Organic Chemistry, Origin of Life, Pollution, Water

Chemists have found that deliquescent minerals, which dissolve in water they absorb from humid air, can assist the construction of proteins from simpler building blocks during cycles timed to mimic day and night on the early Earth.