News tagged with rna molecules

Related topics: messenger rna , protein , cells , genes , gene expression

RNA reactor could have served as a precursor of life

(PhysOrg.com) -- Nobody knows quite how life originated on Earth, but most scientists agree that living cells did not abruptly appear from nonliving cells in a single step. Instead, there were probably a series ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jul 11, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (27) | comments 103 | with audio podcast feature

Organic compounds found in proto-planetary disks

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from scientists in the US has reported that organic compounds could be formed in proto-planetary disks, and could have seeded the development of life in our own and other planetary ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Simpler times: Did an earlier genetic molecule predate DNA and RNA?

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the chemistry of the living world, a pair of nucleic acids—DNA and RNA—reign supreme. As carrier molecules of the genetic code, they provide all organisms with a mechanism for ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (28) | comments 117 | with audio podcast

Pocket chemistry: DNA helps glucose meters measure more than sugar

Glucose meters aren't just for diabetics anymore. Thanks to University of Illinois chemists, they can be used as simple, portable, inexpensive meters for a number of target molecules in blood, serum, water ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jul 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists observe single gene activity in living cells

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have for the first time observed the activity of a single gene in living cells. In an unprecedented study, published in the April 22 online edition ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 21, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The code for survival: Cells fight stress by reprogramming a system of RNA modifications

(PhysOrg.com) -- When cells are exposed to life-threatening stresses, they take quick action to save themselves. Among other defenses, they start manufacturing proteins that perform critical tasks such as ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 17, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Engineered molecule changes itself to detect and attack diseased cells

(PhysOrg.com) -- Assistant Professor of Bioengineering Christina Smolke has engineered biological molecules that regulate a cell's behavior by adjusting their own forms and functions in response to the internal conditions ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 30, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Molecular fossil: Crystal structure shows how RNA, one of biology's oldest catalysts, is made

(PhysOrg.com) -- In today's world of sophisticated organisms proteins are the stars. They are the indispensible catalytic workhorses, carrying out the processes essential to life. But long, long ago ribonucleic ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 14, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A mystery solved: How genes are selectively silenced

Cells read only those genes which are needed at a given moment, while the others are chemically labeled and, thus, selectively turned off. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have now been the first to discover ...

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 18, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

These cancer cells will self-destruct in 5...4...

Cancer is a difficult disease to treat because it's a personal disease. Each case is unique and based on a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Conventional chemotherapy employs treatment with ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 06, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (14) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

The language of RNA decoded: Study reveals new function for pseudogenes and noncoding RNAs

The central dogma of molecular biology, as proposed in 1970 by Francis Crick and James Watson, holds that genetic information is transferred from DNA to functional proteins by way of messenger RNA (mRNA). This suggests that ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jun 23, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Unselfish molecules may have helped give birth to the genetic material of life (w/ Video)

One of the biggest questions facing scientists today is how life began. How did non-living molecules come together in that primordial ooze to form the polymers of life? Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 08, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (9) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Scientists create tiny RNA molecule with big implications for life's origins

An extremely small RNA molecule created by a University of Colorado at Boulder team can catalyze a key reaction needed to synthesize proteins, the building blocks of life. The findings could be a substantial ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Feb 22, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (21) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Newly explored bacteria reveal some huge RNA surprises

(PhysOrg.com) -- Yale University researchers have found very large RNA structures within previously unstudied bacteria that appear crucial to basic biological functions such as helping viruses infect cells ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 02, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (12) | comments 1

Two-In-One Punch Knocks Out Drug Resistant Cancer Cells

(PhysOrg.com) -- Cancer cells, like bacteria, can develop resistance to drug therapy, leading to relapse of disease. One approach showing promise in overcoming multidrug resistance in tumors is to combine two different anticancer ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0