News tagged with methyl group

Researchers suspend, image single DNA molecules

(PhysOrg.com) -- Studying chemical modifications in the chromosomes of cells is akin to searching for changes in coiled spaghetti. Scientists at Cornell have figured out how to stretch out tangled strands ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Oct 31, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists take a step towards uncovering the histone code

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have determined the structures of two enzymes that customize histones, the spool-like proteins around which DNA coils inside the cell.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 20, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

New nucleotide could revolutionize epigenetics

Anyone who studied a little genetics in high school has heard of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine - the A,T,G and C that make up the DNA code. But those are not the whole story. The rise of epigenetics in the past decade ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 16, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Bacteria use caffeine as food source

A new bacterium that uses caffeine for food has been discovered by a doctoral student at the University of Iowa. The bacterium uses newly discovered digestive enzymes to break down the caffeine, which allows it to live and ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 24, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

What it might take to unravel the 'lean mean machine' that is cancer

Scientists from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research have published a paper, online today in Nature Cell Biology, describing gene expression in a prostate cancer cell: more sweeping, more targeted and more comple ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Feb 23, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers Discover How Folate Promotes Healing In Spinal Cord Injuries

(PhysOrg.com) -- The vitamin folate appears to promote healing in damaged rat spinal cord tissue by triggering a change in DNA, according to a laboratory study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jun 24, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Genes as fossils: Researchers discover the DNA responsible for creating fossil-like molecules found in ancient rocks

When exactly did oxygen first appear in Earth's atmosphere? Although many physical and chemical processes are thought to be responsible for that profound transformation, scientists have tried to answer at ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 06, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

High red blood cell folate levels linked to silenced tumor-suppressors

People with higher levels of folate in their red blood cells were more likely to have two tumor-suppressing genes shut down by methylation, a chemical off switch for genes, researchers report in the December issue of Cancer ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Dec 22, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Researchers develop new, more-sensitive assay for detecting DNA methylation in colon cancer

A study published in this week's online issue of Nature Biotechnology, demonstrates a unique and highly sensitive method for detecting methylation-associated cancers.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 16, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Researchers identify new mechanism used by cells to reverse silenced genes

Scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center have discovered a new mechanism used by cells in the body to turn on silenced genes. This process is critical in preventing the development of cancer -- suggesting the possibility of ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jun 30, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers reveal an RNA modification influences thousands of genes

Over the past decade, research in the field of epigenetics has revealed that chemically modified bases are abundant components of the human genome and has forced us to abandon the notion we've had since high school genetics ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Nanofluidics sorts DNA for cancer research

(Phys.org) -- Cornell nanotechnology researchers have devised a new tool to study epigenetic changes in DNA that can cause cancer and other diseases: a nanoscale fluidic device that sorts and collects DNA, ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover a new pathway that regulates inflammation

Inflammation, the body's earliest response to damage or infection, can aid the healing process and trigger an immune response against invading pathogens. But inflammation gone awry can also undermine health, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 11, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Greenhouse gas chemistry

If fossil fuels burn completely, the end products are carbon dioxide and water. Today the carbon dioxide is a waste product, one that goes into the air -- adding to global warming; or the oceans -- acidifying ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 30, 2010 | popularity 2.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Scientists show how hematopoietic stem cell development is regulated

During cell division, whether hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) will develop into new stem cells (self-renewal) or differentiate into other blood cells depends on a chemical process called DNA methylation. These were the findings ...

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 06, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0