An international research team has observed in real time how football molecules made of carbon atoms burst in the beam of an X-ray laser. The study shows the temporal course of the bursting process, which takes less than a trillionth of a second, and is important for the analysis of sensitive proteins and other biomolecules, which are also frequently studied using bright X-ray laser flashes.
Read moreA protective protein that detects newly-made incomplete protein chains in higher cells is found to have a relative in bacteria. There, the protein also plays a central role in quality control which ensures that defective proteins are degraded. The functional mechanism of these Rqc2 proteins must therefore have already existed several billion years ago in the so-called last universal common ancestor. Scientists have experimentally investigated the bacterial Rqc2 relative's function.
Read moreWith a study of the network between nerve and muscle cells in turtles, researchers have gained new insight into the way in which movements are generated and maintained. In the long term, the new knowledge may have an impact on the treatment of, for example, ALS and spinal cord injuries.
Read moreProteins keep our organs functioning, regulate our cells and are the targets for medications that treat a number of diseases, including cancers and neurological diseases. Proteins need to move in order to function. But, because the technology they used to watch proteins doesn't allow it, scientists still know very little about such motions at speeds slower than a nanosecond. That changed last month.
Read moreScientists have constructed synthetic vesicles in which ATP, the main energy carrier in living cells, is produced. The vesicles use the ATP to maintain their volume and their ionic strength homeostasis. This metabolic network will eventually be used in the creation of synthetic cells – but it can already be used to study ATP-dependent processes.
Read moreBiomedical engineers have developed a new platform to create biological drugs using specially engineered bacteria that burst and release useful proteins when they sense that their capsule is becoming too crowded.
Read moreA computer generated-simulation allowed researchers to see how a toxin produced by algal blooms in saltwater might cause Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Read moreNew research reveals how nitrogen-fixing bacteria sense iron – an essential but deadly micronutrient. The findings are an important piece in the puzzle of how life deals with iron, a nutrient it cannot do without but one it must also avoid having in excess.
Read moreCell biologists say they have, for the first time, directly observed and recorded in animal cells a pathway called branching microtubule nucleation, a mechanism in cell division that had been imaged in cellular extracts and plant cells but not directly observed in animal cells.
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