http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Protein activity is strictly regulated. Incorrect or poor protein regulation can lead to uncontrolled growth and thus cancer or chronic inflammation. Members of the Institute of Veterinary Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich have identified enzymes that can regulate the activity of medically important proteins. Their discovery enables these proteins to be manipulated very selectively, opening up new treatment methods for inflammations and cancer. http://phys.org/news282138552.html Biology Sun, 10 Mar 2013 14:00:09 EST news282138552 To see inside Argonne's Advanced Photon Source (APS), all it takes is a little bit of light. http://phys.org/news272532467.html Physics Mon, 19 Nov 2012 07:28:31 EST news272532467 The glowing green molecule known as green fluorescent protein (GFP) has revolutionized molecular biology. When GFP is attached to a particular protein inside a cell, scientists can easily identify and locate it using fluorescence microscopy. However, GFP can't be used with electron microscopy, which offers much higher resolution than fluorescence microscopy. http://phys.org/news270108233.html Biology Mon, 22 Oct 2012 07:05:15 EST news270108233 Researchers for the first time have shown that members of a family of enzymes known as cathepsins – which are implicated in many disease processes – may attack one another instead of the bodily proteins they normally degrade. Dubbed "cathepsin cannibalism," the phenomenon may help explain problems with drugs that have been developed to inhibit the effects of these powerful proteases. http://phys.org/news264067533.html Chemistry Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:05:52 EST news264067533 In one of the most famous faux pas of exploration, Columbus set sail for India and instead 'discovered' America. Similarly, when scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, set out to find enzymes – the proteins that carry out chemical reactions inside cells – that bind to RNA, they too found more than they expected: 300 proteins previously unknown to bind to RNA – more than half as many as were already known to do so. The study, published online today in Cell, could help to explain the role of genes that have been linked to diseases like diabetes and glaucoma. http://phys.org/news257764967.html Biology Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:23:13 EST news257764967 Many proteins are adorned with carbohydrate chains called glycans that can dramatically alter their stability, localization or function. These diverse sugars are assembled and modified by a variety of glycosylating enzymes, with some glycans exclusively manufactured within specific organs or tissues. http://phys.org/news243248133.html Chemistry Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:40:01 EST news243248133 Just as a breeze causes leaves, branches and ultimately the tree to move, enzymes moving at the molecular level perform hundreds of chemical processes that have a ripple effect necessary for life. Protein complexes are often viewed as static entities with their biological functions understood in terms of direct interactions, but that isn't the case, as emphasized in a paper published November 8 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology. The work shows that the amount of flexibility in a protein may itself be an important feature of enzyme function. http://phys.org/news239997538.html Biology Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:00:03 EST news239997538 With an eye toward understanding DNA replication, Cornell researchers have learned how a helicase enzyme works to actually unzip the two strands of DNA. http://phys.org/news235569978.html Biology Sun, 18 Sep 2011 13:06:57 EST news235569978 To address the problems encountered by the traditional European dyes industry, scientists have developed a new and environmentally friendly way to produce dyes. http://phys.org/news235287438.html Nanotechnology Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:50:01 EST news235287438 (PhysOrg.com) -- In order for enzymes and other proteins in our bodies to work correctly, it is often necessary for multiple protein units to gather together into a larger structure. Chains of sugar molecules cannot do this—at least that is what was thought until now. A team led by Thomas Heinze at the University of Jena (Germany) and Stephen E. Harding at the University of Nottingham (UK) has now proven the opposite. http://phys.org/news230896111.html Chemistry Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:40:01 EST news230896111 Having an easily accessible starting point on messenger RNA increases protein formation, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam have discovered. http://phys.org/news228475197.html Biology Tue, 28 Jun 2011 10:20:17 EST news228475197 A new study reveals that a group of ancient enzymes adapted to substantial changes in ocean temperature and acidity during the last four billion years, providing evidence that life on Early Earth evolved from a much hotter, more acidic environment to the cooler, less acidic global environment that exists today. http://phys.org/news221152583.html Chemistry Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:16:43 EST news221152583 An Ohio State University molecular biologist leveraged a supercomputer to help better define the family tree of a group of enzymes that have been implicated in a wide range of human diseases and are important targets for anti-cancer therapies. http://phys.org/news218810217.html Biology Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:37:21 EST news218810217 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have obtained the closest look yet of how a gargantuan molecular machine breaks down unwanted proteins in cells, a critical housekeeping chore that helps prevent diseases such as cancer. http://phys.org/news199975990.html Biology Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:53:31 EST news199975990 Using molecular techniques, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and collaborating scientists have shown how the subversion of a single gene in wheat by two fungal foes triggers a kind of cellular suicide in the grain crop's leaves. http://phys.org/news198236950.html Biology Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:20:02 EST news198236950 (PhysOrg.com) -- USC College's Michel Baudry and graduate student Sohila Zadran brought forty years of research to a pinnacle with their breakthroughs in the science of learning and memory. http://phys.org/news187383675.html Medicine & Health Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:01:37 EST news187383675 Researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have been able to view in detail, and for the first time, the previously mysterious process by which long chains of a protein called ubiquitin are added by enzymes called ubiquitin ligases to proteins that control the cell cycle. Ubiquitin chains tag target proteins for destruction by protein-degrading complexes in the cell. http://phys.org/news178983771.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:43:50 EST news178983771 Researchers at UAB in collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, have discovered the structure of the PPC descarboxilase (PPCDC) enzyme present in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a very important organism in biotechnology and an excellent model for biological research. Scientists have verified that its structure differs substantially from that found in humans, which in addition to its characteristic as an essential enzyme makes it a potential therapeutic target. http://phys.org/news176567951.html Chemistry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:39:43 EST news176567951 (PhysOrg.com) -- A gene with a significant effect on regulating hemoglobin in the body has been identified as part of a genome-wide association study, which looked at the link between genes and hemoglobin level in 16,000 people. The research was carried out by scientists from Imperial College London and published in Nature Genetics today. It shows a strong association between a gene known as TMPRSS6 and the regulation of hemoglobin. http://phys.org/news174490051.html Medicine & Health Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:28:41 EST news174490051 Research carried out at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has resulted in a promising approach to help treat Alzheimer's disease in a significant proportion of the population that suffers from a particularly rapid development of this disease. http://phys.org/news167319118.html Chemistry Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:32:55 EST news167319118 Viruses are molecular marauders, plundering cells for the resources they need to multiply. Of central importance for viruses is the ability to commandeer cellular gene expression machinery. Several human herpesviruses put the breaks on normal cellular gene expression to divert the associated enzymes and resources towards their own viral genes. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), which causes several AIDS-associated cancers, has now been shown to do this in an unexpected way, using a process that is normally protective, called polyadenylation. http://phys.org/news162625056.html Biology Wed, 27 May 2009 06:38:19 EST news162625056 (PhysOrg.com) -- UC Irvine researchers have discovered that circadian rhythms - our own body clock - regulate energy levels in cells. The findings have far-reaching implications, from providing greater insights into the bond between the body's day-night patterns and metabolism to creating new ways to treat cancer, diabetes, obesity and a host of related diseases. http://phys.org/news156087705.html Biology Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:42:18 EST news156087705 Johns Hopkins and other researchers report what is believed to be the first direct evidence in lab animals that the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil amplifies the effects of a heart-protective protein. http://phys.org/news150398115.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:15:15 EST news150398115 A team of scientists from Queen’s University has discovered the first ever three-dimensional structure of a protein family that may help in developing more effective antibiotics. http://phys.org/news133621805.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:10:05 EST news133621805