News

Ankyrin Repeat Proteins Comprise a Diverse Family of Bacterial Type IV Effectors

The intracellular pathogens Legionella pneumophila and Coxiella burnetii use a type IV secretion system to deliver a large number of different bacterial proteins with Anks (ankyrin repeat homology domains) into eukaryotic cells.  » Read more
08.06.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News  

Conformational Switch of Syntaxin-1 Controls Synaptic Vesicle Fusion

Area: Neurology
The SNARE protein syntaxin-1 exists in two conformations during synaptic vesicle fusion, both of which can bind to Munc18-1: the "open" conformation in the SNARE complex and a "closed" conformation outside the SNARE complex.  » Read more
08.06.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News  

Disruption of the CFTR Gene Produces a Model of Cystic Fibrosis in Newborn Pigs

A research group from the University of Iowa (USA) generated pigs in which both CFTR alleles were disrupted. Two decades ago CFTR was identified as the gene causing cystic fibrosis, however a cure to the disease has not been established yet.  » Read more
08.06.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News  

An alternative Menaquinone Biosynthetic Pathway Operating in Microorganisms

A Japanese research team from the Biotechnology Research Center in Toyama performed a bioinformatic analysis of whole genome sequences in order to find orthologues of the men genes in Escherichia coli. The men genes enable microorganisms to synthesise menaquinone (vitamin K2), an essential component of the electron-transfer pathway. In E. coli it is derived from chorismate by seven enzymes.  » Read more
08.05.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News  

An Inhibitor of FtsZ with Potent and Selective Anti-Staphylococcal Activity

The essential bacterial guanosine triphosphatase FtsZ was validated as a target for antibacterial intervention by British researchers from Prolysis in Oxfordshire and the University of Sheffield. FtsZ is a bacterial homologue of mammalian β-tubulin that initiates cell division by polymerising and then assembling into a ring.  » Read more
03.03.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News  

Molecular Coupling of Xist Regulation and Pluripotency

Area: DNA
Pluripotency key factors bind to Xist intron 1 in undifferentiated embryonic stem cells, report research groups from the Pasteur Institute in Paris and the University of Edinburgh, UK. During murine embryogenesis, the imprinted X chromosome inactivation can be reprogrammed in the inner cell mass of a pluripotent female blastocyst. The reversion is triggered by repression of Xist from the paternal X chromosome. The three main genetic factors underlying pluripotency, Nanog, Oct3/4 and Sox2, bind to Xist intron 1.  » Read more
03.03.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News  

FBXW7 Targets mTOR for Degradation and Cooperates with PTEN in Tumor Suppression

The enzyme mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) is selected for ubiquitination and subsequent degradation by binding to the tumour suppressor protein FBXW7  » Read more
03.03.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News  

Activation of Aldehyde Dehydrogenase-2 Reduces Ischemic Damage to the Heart

Areas: Drugs, Enzymes
Mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) was identified as an enzyme whose activation correlates with reduced ischemic heart damage in rodent models by Che-Hong Chen and colleagues from the Stanford University (USA), using an unbiased proteomic search. The research team wanted to find a drug that limits the severity of ischemia-induced cardiac damage occurring after a myocardial infarction or certain cardiac surgical procedures.  » Read more
12.02.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News  

Epigenetic Reprogramming by Adenovirus E1A

Epigenetic reprogramming by Adenovirus E1A that causes transformations of the cell were discovered by Roberto Ferrari and his co-workers from the University of California (USA).  » Read more
12.02.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News  

Censoring of Autoreactive B Cell Development by the Pre-B Cell Receptor

The pre-B cell receptor appears to censor the development of certain autoantibody-secreting cells, as Rebecca A. Keenan and her team from The Babraham Institute in Cambridge, UK report. The pre-B cell receptor is composed of immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy and substitute light chains. It seems to be involved in the negative selection of cells expressing heavy chains bearing the potential to generate autoantibodies. It thus may be an important factor in multifactorial autoimmune diseases.  » Read more

03.02.2009 | Anna Lena Marwedel   RSS Feed   Research News