Thursday, September 08, 2011

ScienceDaily: Biotechnology News

ScienceDaily: Biotechnology News

Evolution's past is modern human's present: DNA evidence of ancient interbreeding inside Africa

Posted: 07 Sep 2011 02:15 PM PDT

That seems to be the takeaway from new research that concludes "archaic" humans, somewhere in Africa during the last 20-60 thousand years, interbred with anatomically modern humans and transferred small amounts of genetic material to their offspring who are alive today. University of Arizona geneticist Michael Hammer and a team of evolutionary biologists, geneticists and mathematicians report the finding in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Endangered horse has ancient origins and high genetic diversity, new study finds

Posted: 07 Sep 2011 01:39 PM PDT

An endangered species, Przewalski's horse, is much more distantly related to the domestic horse and has a much more diverse gene pool than researchers previously had hypothesized, researchers report. The new study's findings could be used to inform conservation efforts to save the endangered species, of which only 2,000 individuals remain in parts of China and Mongolia, and in wildlife reserves in California and the Ukraine.

Scientists offer way to address 'age-old' questions

Posted: 07 Sep 2011 10:21 AM PDT

Scientists have devised a method to measure the impact of age on the growth rates of cellular populations, a development that offers new ways to understand and model the growth of bacteria, and could provide new insights into how genetic factors affect their life cycle.

Scientists create mammalian cells with single chromosome set

Posted: 07 Sep 2011 10:20 AM PDT

Researchers have created mammalian cells containing a single set of chromosomes for the first time. The technique should allow scientists to better establish the relationships between genes and their function.

Cellular metabolism self-adapts to protect against free radicals

Posted: 07 Sep 2011 09:12 AM PDT

Oxygen-consuming organisms obtain energy through cellular respiration, which is the transformation of carbohydrates and oxygen into carbon dioxide and water. This process also produces toxic oxygen radicals which must be decomposed immediately, as they would otherwise cause damage to cells. Scientists have now discovered a mechanism, with whose help cells can coordinate respiratory activity and the degradation of free radicals. Thus, the cells prepare their metabolism for free radicals before they even arise.

'TF beacons' may light path to new cancer tests and drugs

Posted: 07 Sep 2011 07:46 AM PDT

Scientists are reporting development of a long-sought new way to detect the activity of proteins that bind to the DNA in genes, often controlling the activity of genes in ways that make cells do everything from growing normally to becoming cancerous.

Chaperone for 'guardian of the genome'

Posted: 07 Sep 2011 07:46 AM PDT

The protein p53 plays an essential role in the prevention of cancer by initiating the controlled death of a cell with damaged genes which is in danger to transform into a cancerous cell. The heat shock protein Hsp90, in turn, activates and stabilizes p53. Now scientists have discovered both the site where the two proteins interact and the interaction mechanism.

New substances accelerate drug transport into cells

Posted: 07 Sep 2011 04:57 AM PDT

Biologists have discovered means for speeding the transport of the active ingredients of drugs into live cells that might allow drastically reducing drug dosages in the future.
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