News tagged with dna structures

Discarded data may hold the key to a sharper view of molecules

(Phys.org) -- There's nothing like a new pair of eyeglasses to bring fine details into sharp relief. For scientists who study the large molecules of life from proteins to DNA, the equivalent of new lenses have come in the ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists find the structure of a key 'gene silencer' protein

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have determined the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human protein that is centrally involved in regulating the activities of cells. Knowing the precise ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

First description of a triple DNA helix in a vacuum

A team of researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) have managed for the first time to extract trustworthy structural information ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 18, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Genetic study unravels ancient links between African and European populations

Large numbers of people moved between Africa and Europe during recent and well-documented time periods such as the Roman Empire, the Arab conquest, and the slave trade, and genetic evidence of these migrations lives on in ...

Biology / Evolution

created Mar 26, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Tailored optical material from DNA: Nano spiral staircases modify light

In the human body genetic information is encoded in double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid building blocks, the so-called DNA. Using artificial DNA molecules, an international team of scientists headed by the ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Mar 14, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Defect in transport system causes DNA chaos in red blood cells

Within all our cells lies two meters of DNA, highly ordered in a structure of less than 10 micro meters in diameter. Special proteins called histones act as small building bricks, organising our DNA in this structure. Preservation ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Crystal structure of archael chromatin clarified in new study

Researchers at the RIKEN SPring-8 Center in Harima, Japan, have clarified for the first time how chromatin in archaea, one of the three evolutionary branches of organisms in nature, binds to DNA. The results offer valuable ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Genetic mechanics: First-ever 3-D images of DNA damage sensor create

Everything — from noxious chemicals found in cigarette smoke or car exhaust, to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, to even something as benign as oxygen — is working overtime to damage DNA. Fortunately, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Zinc-finger proteins act as site-specific adapters for DNA-origami structures

(PhysOrg.com) -- DNA is not merely a carrier of genetic information; DNA is a useful building material for nanoscale structures. In a way similar to origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, a long single ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Feb 02, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

DNA motor programmed to navigate a network of tracks

Expanding on previous work with engines traveling on straight tracks, a team of researchers at Kyoto University and the University of Oxford have successfully used DNA building blocks to construct a motor ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Jan 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Good parents are predictable -- at least when it comes to corn

In order to breed new varieties of corn with a higher yield faster than ever before, researchers at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany, and other institutions are relying on a trick: early selection of the ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 15, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Built-in 'self-destruct timer' causes ultimate death of messenger RNA in cells

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered the first known mechanism by which cells control the survival of messenger RNA (mRNA) -- arguably biology's most important molecule. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

When inflexibility is counterproductive: Mechanism of UV-induced DNA Dewar lesion revealed

Excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation of sunlight can result in skin damage and may even induce skin cancers. Irradiation with UV light causes mutations in the DNA, which can interfere with or even inhibit the ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 28, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The art of stabilizing entangled spaghetti-like materials

Gene therapy can only be effective if delivered by a stable complex molecule. Now, scientists have determined the conditions that would stabilise complex molecular structures that are subject to inherent attractions and repulsions ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Nov 28, 2011 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Study identifies a key molecular switch for telomere extension by telomerase

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine describe for the first time a key target of DNA damage checkpoint enzymes that must be chemically modified to enable stable maintenance of chromosome ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast