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. Genes control everything from eye color to disease susceptibility, and inheritance - the passing of the genes from generation to generation after they have been duplicated - depends on centromeres. Located in the little pinched waist of each chromosome, centromeres control the movements that separate sister chromosomes when cells divide ensuring that each daughter cell inherits a complete copy of each chromosome. It has long been known that centromeres are not formed solely from DNA; rather, centromere proteins (CENPs) facilitate the assembly of a centromere on each chromosome. Understanding how a protein structure can be copied with enough precision to be stable, generation after generation, has been a mystery. http://phys.org/news227290875.html Biology Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:21:32 EST news227290875 An international consortium of researchers has completed the majority of the genome sequence of the domesticated turkey, publishing it in the online open-access journal PLoS Biology next week. In 2008, the research consortium set out to map the genetic blueprint for the domesticated turkey, the fourth-most popular source of meat in the United States. The complete genome sequence, rapidly acquired using 'next-generation' sequencing technology, promises new data for avian researchers and, ultimately, a better quality product for turkey producers and consumers. http://phys.org/news203099358.html Biology Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:50:01 EST news203099358 It now appears that the malaria mosquito relies on a battery of different types of odor sensors to mediate its most critical behaviors, including how to choose and locate their blood-meal hosts. In an article to be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, researchers at Vanderbilt University have characterized two families of molecular odorant sensors in Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito responsible for the majority of human malaria transmission. http://phys.org/news202454078.html Biology Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:00:11 EST news202454078 There is now another good reason to exercise. Besides burning calories, exercise restores the sensitivity of neurons involved in the control of satiety (feeling full), which in turn contributes to reduced food intake and consequently weight loss. This is the conclusion of a study led by Brazilian researchers at the University of Campinas, and the findings will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. This disclosure may bring hope to over 40% of the population that suffers from weight problems and obesity around the world. http://phys.org/news201890168.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:00:02 EST news201890168 The human AIDS viruses (HIV-1 and HIV-2) originated as viruses of apes and monkeys, respectively, yet little is known about whether or how these invaders adapted to the new genetic "environment" encountered in humans. One group of host genes, collectively known as restriction factors, is thought to influence the ability of such viruses to move between different primate species. A study conducted by Andrea Kirmaier and Welkin Johnson of Harvard Medical School, together with Dr. Vanessa Hirsch of the National Institutes of Health, provides direct evidence in apes and monkeys of a restriction factor gene called TRIM5 acting as a genetic barrier to cross-species transmission of a primate immunodeficiency virus related to HIV-2. The findings will publish next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news201890001.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:33:53 EST news201890001 Despite the many cosmetic products, surgical treatments, food supplements, and drugs designed specifically to reverse the biological effects of aging in humans, long-lived aspen clones aren't so lucky. Researchers at the University of British Columbia have shown that as long-lived male aspen clones age, their sexual performance declines. http://phys.org/news201282464.html Biology Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:00:02 EST news201282464 Our belief as to whether we will likely succeed or fail at a given task -- and the consequences of winning or losing -- directly affects the levels of neural effort put forth in movement-planning circuits in the human cortex, according to a new brain-imaging study by neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology.  http://phys.org/news200126591.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:43:35 EST news200126591 Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York have provided the first atomic-level glimpse of the proton-driven motor from a major group of ATP synthases, enzymes that are central to cellular energy conversion. http://phys.org/news200047448.html Chemistry Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:00:09 EST news200047448 Debates have raged for decades about how to arrange the Australian and South American branches of the marsupial family tree. http://phys.org/news199431266.html Biology Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:00:02 EST news199431266 Plant scientists at the John Innes Centre have provided a new solution to an old debate on why species hybrids can be more vigourous than their parents. In a study to be published online next week in the online open access journal PLoS Biology, the researchers found a type of genetic "noise" caused by a surprising degree of variation in gene activity even for highly similar traits in closely related species. They found that when species hybridise, some of the variation in gene activity may be cancelled out, leading to greater vigour. http://phys.org/news198830172.html Biology Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:00:27 EST news198830172 How species form and what keeps them distinct from each other, even though they can interbreed, is a key question in evolution. Researchers from Taiwan, led by Dr. Jun-Yi Leu, an Assistant Research Fellow from the Institute of Molecular Biology at Academia Sinica, have recently identified genes in three closely-related yeast species that cause sterility, increasing our understanding of how species can remain distinct. The findings will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news198830113.html Biology Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:00:03 EST news198830113 Researchers funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) have discovered for the first time that two proteins called Mahjong and Lgl could be star players in helping to identify how the body's own cells fight back against cancer cells. This discovery, publishing today in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, could lead to future treatments to make our healthy cells better-equipped to attack cancer cells, an entirely new concept for cancer research. http://phys.org/news198261482.html Biology Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:00:01 EST news198261482 Researchers at NUI Galway have made a discovery that could lead to the development of more effective treatments for a number of diseases. They have shown that a protein produced when cells are stressed interacts with a stress sensor allowing cells to survive conditions of intense stress. Understanding this interaction may help scientists interfere with cancer cells so the cells can no longer survive exposure to stressful conditions. These findings are published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news197656992.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:40:03 EST news197656992 In this study, Shuichi Takeda at Nagoya University and colleagues present the X-ray crystal structures of the actin capping protein (CP) complexed with its inhibitors, V-1 and CARMIL, and demonstrate that the two regulators modulate the filament capping activity in very different manners. These findings will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news197656651.html Chemistry Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:00:03 EST news197656651 New York University researchers have identified a mechanism the brain uses to help process sound localization. Their findings, which appear in the latest edition of the journal PLoS Biology, focus on how the brain computes the different arrival times of sound into each ear to estimate the location of its source. http://phys.org/news197040548.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:00:04 EST news197040548 The adult brain, long considered to be fixed in its wiring, is in fact remarkably dynamic. Neuroscientists once thought that the brain's wiring was fixed early in life, during a critical period beyond which changes were impossible. Recent discoveries have challenged that view, and now, research by scientists at Rockefeller University suggests that circuits in the adult brain are continually modified by experience. http://phys.org/news195841318.html Medicine & Health Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:22:24 EST news195841318 Since the beginning, plants and animals have deployed various mechanisms to fight pathogens. Proteins have always played an important part in this armoury, and a broad variety of defensin proteins have become part of the immune system of plants, insects and other animals except mammals. Now scientists from Regensburg discovered that those proteins also play a role in the "sex life" during the fertilization process of plants. These findings will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news194632418.html Biology Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:50:02 EST news194632418 The majestic animals most closely associated with the African savanna -- fierce lions, massive elephants, towering giraffes - may be relatively minor players when it comes to shaping the ecosystem. http://phys.org/news194026908.html Biology Tue, 25 May 2010 17:22:07 EST news194026908 New insight into what stem cells are and how they behave could help scientists to grow cells that form different tissues. http://phys.org/news194026844.html Biology Tue, 25 May 2010 17:20:57 EST news194026844 If you lived longer, would you still remember everything? It depends. Two methods of extending life span have very different effects on memory performance and decline with age, researchers at Princeton University have shown in a study publishing next week in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news193422967.html Medicine & Health Tue, 18 May 2010 18:10:02 EST news193422967 A group of University of Toronto scientists have uncovered some of the secrets behind what molecular biologists call "dark matter" transcripts. The findings will be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news193423017.html Biology Tue, 18 May 2010 17:37:17 EST news193423017 Plant geneticists are on a determined quest -- to control auxin, a powerful plant growth hormone. Auxin tells plants how to grow, where to lay down roots, how to make tissues, and how to respond to light and gravity. Knowing how to manipulate auxin could thus have enormous implications for the production of biofuel, making plants grow faster and better. http://phys.org/news193332540.html Biology Mon, 17 May 2010 16:29:15 EST news193332540 The sepals of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana -- commonly known as the mouse-eared cress—are characterized by an outer layer of cells that vary widely in their sizes, and are distributed in equally varied patterns and proportions. http://phys.org/news193331882.html Biology Mon, 17 May 2010 16:18:31 EST news193331882 An unknown function that regulates how stem cells produce different types of cells in different parts of the nervous system has been discovered by Stefan Thor, professor of Developmental Biology, and graduate students Daniel Karlsson and Magnus Baumgardt, at Linköping University in Sweden. The results improve our understanding of how stem cells work, which is crucial for our ability to use stem cells to treat and repair organs. The findings are publishing next week in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news192817534.html Biology Tue, 11 May 2010 18:30:01 EST news192817534 An experienced fruit fly researcher can tell at a glance whether the fly she is observing is male or female; a distinct pigmentation pattern on a fly's body (a type of bristle found only on the legs of males) and differences in the genitalia are dead giveaways. But most of the fly's body parts look identical in males and females, and until now, scientists had no idea whether "maleness" or "femaleness" extended to all of the insect's cells and tissues. In a study publishing today in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, researchers at the Janelia Farm Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute find that most cells in flies' bodies are identical, regardless of whether they are in a male or a female. http://phys.org/news192215130.html Biology Tue, 04 May 2010 18:40:03 EST news192215130 Bacteria in the ocean can harvest light energy from sunlight to promote survival thanks to a unique photoprotein. This novel finding by a team of scientists in Sweden and Spain is to be published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news191609124.html Biology Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:50:01 EST news191609124 What does the smell of a good meal mean to you? It may mean more than you think. Specific odors that represent food or indicate danger are capable of altering an animal's lifespan and physiological profile by activating a small number of highly specialized sensory neurons, researchers at the University of Michigan, University of Houston, and Baylor College of Medicine have shown in a study publishing next week in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news191002572.html Biology Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:16:48 EST news191002572 In focal epilepsy, seizures are generated by a localized, synchronous neuronal electrical discharge that may spread to large portions of the brain. In spite of intense research in the field of epilepsy, a key question remains unanswered: what are the earliest cellular events leading to the initiation of a focal seizure? http://phys.org/news190398651.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:31:06 EST news190398651 In Germany alone, more than 300,000 people are afflicted by Parkinson's disease and the number is growing steadily. However, despite comprehensive research, scientists are still somewhat in the dark as to the molecular changes that trigger this illness. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried, Germany, together with colleagues from Munich and Hamburg, have demonstrated using a new animal model that nerve cells do not begin to die to the extent found in "Parkinson's" in mice until three conditions come together. These findings, which are published next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, are an important step forward in understanding this illness. http://phys.org/news189797767.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:30:01 EST news189797767 The genes that are most beneficial to males are the most disadvantageous for females, and vice versa. However, this genetic conflict between the sexes is important in maintaining genetic variation within a species, researchers at Uppsala University have shown in a study on fruit-flies published in the open access journal PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news187903843.html Biology Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:20:01 EST news187903843