Friday, July 15, 2011

ScienceDaily: Biotechnology News

ScienceDaily: Biotechnology News

The unfolding 'SAGA' of transcriptional co-activators

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:15 PM PDT

Successful gene expression requires the concerted action of a host of regulatory factors. Long overshadowed by bona fide transcription factors, co-activators -- the hangers-on that facilitate transcription by docking onto transcription factors or modifying chromatin -- have recently come to the fore.

Protein may help diagnose and treat lymphoma in people and dogs

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:14 PM PDT

A protein that appears to play a key role in the formation of lymphoma and other tumors by inhibiting a tumor-suppressing gene has been identified by a team of veterinary and human medicine researchers. The newly identified protein may be a potential target for diagnosing and treating lymphoma in humans and animals.

Cod mislabelling four times more prevalent in Ireland than UK, study shows

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:09 PM PDT

According to a new study, 28 percent of cod products in Ireland are mislabeled, as compared to 7 percent in the UK. Using a DNA barcoding technique (COI barcoding gene), scientists from Ireland genetically identified 226 cod products purchased from supermarkets, fishmongers and take-away outlets across Ireland (131) and the UK (95), and compared the results against the product labels.

Editing the genome: Scientists unveil new tools for rewriting the code of life

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 11:21 AM PDT

Researchers have unveiled genome-engineering technologies capable of fundamentally re-engineering genomes from the nucleotide to the megabase scale. Treating the chromosome as both an editable and an evolvable template, the researchers have demonstrated methods to rewrite a cell's genome through powerful new tools for biotechnology, energy and agriculture.

Enzymes for cell wall synthesis conserved across species barriers

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 10:20 AM PDT

Plants have neither supportive bone tissue nor muscles, and yet they can form rigid structures like stalks and even tree trunks. This is due to the fact that plant cells are enveloped by a stable cell wall. The main component of the plant cell wall is cellulose, which represents almost 50 percent of the total cell wall material and, at one billion tons per year, is the most frequently produced macromolecule in nature. Very little is known about the way in which cellulose is produced, and the knowledge that is available has mainly been obtained from the model plant thale cress which, although easy to study, is of no economic significance. Researchers have now succeeded in showing that knowledge obtained in thale cress can be applied to other plant species.

Cancer gene therapy from camels

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 07:15 AM PDT

Nanobodies produced from camel blood have unique properties, which can be used in future drug development. New research confirms that camel blood can help scientists in the fight against cancer.

DNA cages 'can survive inside living cells'

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 07:03 AM PDT

Scientists have shown for the first time that molecular cages made from DNA can enter and survive inside living cells.

Protein switch controls how stem cells turn into new heart tissue

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 07:00 AM PDT

Researchers have identified a protein that can direct stem cells to become either new heart muscle or blood vessels. The research, which was carried out in zebrafish, offers insight into how it might be possible one day to generate tissues to repair the human heart after damage inflicted by a heart attack.

New mechanism in the regulation of human genes

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:24 AM PDT

In order to create proteins, a protein-coding gene must be transcribed into RNA and in the splicing process shortened to the correct template. Scientists in Germany have now discovered how the U2AF protein enables this process.
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