http://www.physorg.com/chemistry-news/biochemistry/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on biochemistry (PhysOrg.com) -- It's widely understood that eating a diet high in saturated fats increases the risk for a long list of chronic and deadly diseases, including diabetes and coronary heart disease. Understanding how this works at a molecular level, however, is much more complicated. http://www.physorg.com/news180633748.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:10:05 EST news180633748 Researchers have identified the protein mechanism that senses bicarbonate fluctuations and adjusts blood pH levels. http://www.physorg.com/news180711739.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:20:02 EST news180711739 (PhysOrg.com) -- Much like a tightly wound drum, red blood cells are in perpetual vibration. Those vibrations help the cells maintain their characteristic flattened oval or disc shape, which is critical to their ability to deform as they traverse blood vessels in the body to deliver oxygen to tissues. http://www.physorg.com/news180640421.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:30:01 EST news180640421 (PhysOrg.com) -- Plywood-shelved carts that are used to transport eggs into processing plants can harbor Enterobacteriaceae, according to a microbial survey conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Athens, Ga. http://www.physorg.com/news180625343.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:43:23 EST news180625343 (PhysOrg.com) -- Brookhaven scientists have created a new enzyme with the potential to interfere with a key cell-wall component in plants, possibly leading to plants that are easier to "digest" and convert to biofuels. http://www.physorg.com/news180624203.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:24:01 EST news180624203 (PhysOrg.com) -- Just like our roads, there is a lot of traffic within the cells in our bodies, because cell components, messenger molecules, and enzymes must also be brought to the right places in the cell. One of these transportation systems functions like a kind of railway: a system of molecular tracks is used to transport vesicles and their contents to their target destinations. http://www.physorg.com/news180602012.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:14:11 EST news180602012 A team of researchers studying the protein that, when defective or absent, causes cystic fibrosis (CF) has made an important discovery about how that protein is normally controlled and under what circumstances it might go awry. http://www.physorg.com/news180339751.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:40:01 EST news180339751 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using new technology developed in his University of Oregon lab, chemist Andrew H. Marcus and his doctoral student Eric N. Senning have captured what they describe as well-orchestrated, actin-driven, mitochondrial movement within a single cell. http://www.physorg.com/news180279074.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:43:27 EST news180279074 When cells accumulate excessive errors in the proteins they produce, apoptosis is activated, that is to say, a cell suicide programme; however, beforehand the cells attempt to rectify the problem through a number of rescue responses. Scientists know only the general outline of the mechanisms behind cellular "stress responses", the interactions between them and the molecular components involved. http://www.physorg.com/news180273234.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:20:04 EST news180273234 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University, Evanston, have discovered that common bacteria can turn microgears when suspended in a solution, providing insights for design of bio-inspired dynamically adaptive materials for energy. http://www.physorg.com/news180186704.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:52:24 EST news180186704 The chance discovery of a genetic mutation that makes mice enormously fat but protects them from diabetes has given researchers at Boston University School of Medicine, USA, new insights into the cellular mechanisms that link obesity to Type 2 diabetes. Dr Gerald Denis and his colleagues report their findings in the current issue of The Biochemical Journal. http://www.physorg.com/news180097752.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:30:05 EST news180097752 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at McGill University have identified a protein that plays a key role in cell proliferation and is likely to promote cancer development. The work may lead to the development of new diagnostic tools adjusted for personalized treatments, the researchers said. Their results are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). http://www.physorg.com/news180033486.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:20:27 EST news180033486 Scientists have identified a novel antifreeze molecule in a freeze-tolerant Alaska beetle able to survive temperatures below minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike all previously described biological antifreezes that contain protein, this new molecule, called xylomannan, has little or no protein. It is composed of a sugar and a fatty acid and may exist in new places within the cells of organisms. http://www.physorg.com/news180021715.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:02:30 EST news180021715 A team of researchers from the Astrobiology Centre (INTA-CSIC) has shown that hydrogen cyanide, urea and other substances considered essential to the formation of the most basic biological molecules can be obtained from the salt Prussian blue. In order to carry out this study, published in the journal Chemistry & Biodiversity, the scientists recreated the chemical conditions of the early Earth. http://www.physorg.com/news180017348.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:30:01 EST news180017348 Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have solved a 10-year-old mystery of how a single protein from an ancient family of enzymes can have two completely distinct roles in the body. In addition to providing guidance for understanding other molecules in the family, the research supplies a theoretical underpinning for the protein's possible use for combating diseases including cancer and macular degeneration. http://www.physorg.com/news179934545.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:20:03 EST news179934545 A gene commonly studied by cancer researchers has been linked to the metabolic inflammation that leads to diabetes. http://www.physorg.com/news179776847.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:02:19 EST news179776847 How does a cell manage to identify and degrade the diverse types of defective proteins and thus protect the body against serious diseases? The researchers Sabine C. Horn, Professor Thomas Sommer, Professor Udo Heinemann and Dr. Ernst Jarosch of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now found a crucial piece in this puzzle. In an enzyme complex that plays a critical role in the quality control of proteins, they discovered a scaffold regulating the identification and disposal of various defectively produced proteins. http://www.physorg.com/news179757100.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:10:02 EST news179757100 Scientists have designed a synthetic protein that is both a structural model and a functional model of a native protein, nitric-oxide reductase. http://www.physorg.com/news179667132.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:34:48 EST news179667132 A new study on the surface chemistry of silver-colored, mercury-based dental fillings suggests that the surface forms of mercury may be less toxic than previously thought. It appears online in ACS' journal Chemical Research in Toxicology. http://www.physorg.com/news179586579.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:11:24 EST news179586579 Scientists are adding additional brush strokes to the revolutionary new image now emerging for star-shaped cells called astrocytes in the brain and spinal cord. Their report, which suggests a key role for astrocytes in morphine's ability to relieve pain and cause addiction, appears online in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research. http://www.physorg.com/news179585968.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:10:16 EST news179585968 (PhysOrg.com) -- A single bacterium can act alone, performing the same kinds of actions that a group normally does. The behavior of that bacterium can be manipulated at the cellular level. That`s the intriguing finding by a group of researchers from UNM, the Dartmouth Medical School, the New Mexico Veterans Health Care System, and Sandia National Laboratories. The results are reported in the Nov. 22 issue of Nature Chemical Biology. A possible application is halting drug resistant bacteria found in hospital settings. http://www.physorg.com/news179520110.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:42:40 EST news179520110 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ground-breaking discoveries by Michigan State University researchers could help protect honeybees from deadly parasites that have devastated commercial colonies. http://www.physorg.com/news179515713.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:20:02 EST news179515713 Sarah Steele and Langtian "Ren" Yuan were both self-admittedly inexperienced Duke freshmen in the spring of 2006. But then they followed helpful directions of an assistant chemistry professor, added their own patience and ingenuity, and ended up identifying compounds that might allay the powerful cravings of methamphetamine and cocaine addiction. http://www.physorg.com/news179503070.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:58:34 EST news179503070 Researchers have discovered how the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas' disease, prolongs its survival in infected cells. A protein on the parasite activates the enzyme Akt, which blocks cell death signals, preventing cell destruction and parasite elimination. Chagas' disease affects some 8 to 11 million people throughout Latin America and even the United States. http://www.physorg.com/news179502191.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:45:49 EST news179502191 (PhysOrg.com) -- MIT chemists have developed a new platinum compound that is as powerful as the commonly used anticancer drug cisplatin but better able to destroy tumor cells. http://www.physorg.com/news179426472.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:00:03 EST news179426472 In an encouraging new development, a team led by Scripps Research Institute scientists has restored partial function to lung cells collected from patients with cystic fibrosis. While there is still much work to be done before the therapy can be tested in humans, the discovery opens the door to a new class of therapies for this and a host of other chronic diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news179328978.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:37:24 EST news179328978 Case Western Reserve University researchers, from the School of Medicine's Department of Nutrition, discovered two new metabolic pathways by which products of lipid peroxidation and some drugs of abuse, known as 4-hydroxyacids, are metabolized. http://www.physorg.com/news179171179.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:46:41 EST news179171179 A major discovery is challenging accepted thinking about amyloids - the fibrous protein deposits associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's - and may open up a potential new area for therapeutics. http://www.physorg.com/news179133945.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:00:01 EST news179133945 Most scientists believe that staph infections are caused by many bacterial cells that signal each other to emit toxins. The signaling process is called quorum sensing because many bacteria must be present to start the process. http://www.physorg.com/news179070935.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:56:14 EST news179070935 (PhysOrg.com) -- An enzyme in our blood that enables our lungs to exhale carbon dioxide could be the key to isolating carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants in order to store them safely underground. A company called Carbozyme, based in New Jersey, is developing a synthetic version of the blood enzyme that could capture carbon dioxide using one-third less energy than other methods. http://www.physorg.com/news179068055.html Chemistry - Biochemistry Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:08:37 EST news179068055