http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- Biologists led by associate professor Thomas Schwartz (MIT) have worked out a rudimentary architectural plan for the nuclear pore complex (NPC), the gatekeeper of the cell's nucleus. http://www.physorg.com/news175881788.html Biology Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:04:11 EST news175881788 When it comes to the two basic types of cells, prokaryotes and eukaryotes, compartmentalization is everything. Prokaryotes are evolutionarily ancient cells that only have a membrane surrounding their outer boundary, while the more complex eukaryotes have an outer membrane and membrane bound compartments within the cell. Perhaps most notable is the double layered membrane that surrounds the nucleus, the cellular compartment which houses the cell's genetic material. http://www.physorg.com/news174050458.html Chemistry Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:25:25 EST news174050458 (PhysOrg.com) -- The NPC is the only way in or out of a cell's nucleus. It plays a key role in cellular metabolism and signaling, and any malfunction in these pores can have lethal consequences. Now new research reveals further insights into the design of this evolutionarily ancient and little-understood transport machinery. The findings suggest that the nuclear pore complex takes on different formations to carry out its function. http://www.physorg.com/news173428123.html Biology Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:20:01 EST news173428123 (PhysOrg.com) -- Computational biochemist Frank Alber compares determining the architecture of a macromolecular machine to solving a jigsaw puzzle. http://www.physorg.com/news169926693.html Chemistry Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:30:01 EST news169926693 (PhysOrg.com) -- To protect their DNA, cells in higher organisms are very choosy about what they allow in and out of their nuclei, where the genes reside. Guarding access is the job of transport machines called nuclear pore complexes, which stud the nuclear membrane. Despite these gatekeepers` conspicuously large size (they are made of 30 different proteins), they have proved largely inscrutable to researchers over the years. But bit by bit, scientists are learning how these machines work. http://www.physorg.com/news169828329.html Biology Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:20:01 EST news169828329 (PhysOrg.com) -- For perhaps 1.8 billion years after life first emerged on Earth, a sort of evolutionary writer`s block stalled the development of organisms more complicated than single cells. Then, a burst of experimental creativity about 1.7 billion years ago brought the cell nucleus onto the scene, stashing the cell`s genetic material inside a protective inner membrane and setting the stage for the evolution of more sophisticated creatures from yeast, say, to plants and human beings. Now research shows that one of the most basic design principles of this new eukaryotic life-form - the gatekeeper to the cell nucleus known as the nuclear pore complex - is largely shared across the most distantly related eukaryotes. Its core components likely evolved once and for all and would be found in the nuclear pore complex of what is known as the last common eukaryotic ancestor. http://www.physorg.com/news166722019.html Chemistry Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:00:02 EST news166722019 (PhysOrg.com) -- To help protect its genes, a cell is highly selective about what it allows to move in and out of its nucleus. Yet that choosiness is regulated by just a thin barrier, perforated with tiny transport machines called nuclear pore complexes: protein-coated holes surrounded by flimsy, unfolded protein strands. Now, by building an artificial mimic of this membrane barrier and its pores, scientists have discovered a key to its selectivity and, in the process, have found a practical tool for drug development. http://www.physorg.com/news150475306.html Biology Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:41:46 EST news150475306 (PhysOrg.com) -- In higher organisms, the genetic material is confined and protected in the cell nucleus. In order for a healthy cell to function, the DNA must send manufacturing orders through the double membrane of the nucleus and into the cell`s cytoplasm, where the protein production factories are and where most cellular functions are carried out. The sole portals through which these instructions pass - nuclear pore complexes - have a say in what the orders are and how they are conveyed. But these conspicuously large structures have ironically proved all but inscrutable to researchers over the years. http://www.physorg.com/news149347711.html Biology Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:28:31 EST news149347711