News tagged with transfer rnas

The pre-history of life: Elegantly simple organizing principles seen in ribosomes

With few exceptions, all known forms of life on our planet rely on the same genetic code to specify the amino acid composition of proteins. Although different hypotheses abound, just how individual amino acids ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 12, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists get glimpse of how the 'code' of life may have emerged

A portion of the "code" of life has been unraveled by a UC Santa Barbara graduate student from the town of Jojutla, Mexico.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 23, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (15) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Secrets of a Life-Giving Amino Acid Revealed

(PhysOrg.com) -- Selenium is a trace element crucial to life -- too little or too much of it is fatal. In the July 17 issue of the journal Science, researchers at Yale University and University of Illinois at Chi ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jul 16, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 0

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

Cells defend themselves from viruses, bacteria with armor of protein errors

When cells are confronted with an invading virus or bacteria or exposed to an irritating chemical, they protect themselves by going off their DNA recipe and inserting the wrong amino acid into new proteins to defend them ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1

Biologists uncover a novel cellular proofreading mechanism

(PhysOrg.com) -- To make proteins, cells assemble long chains of amino acids, based on genetic instructions from DNA. That construction takes place in a tiny cellular structure called a ribosome, to which amino acids are ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 11, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Genetic switch potential key to new class of antibiotics

Researchers have determined the structure of a key genetic mechanism at work in bacteria, including some that are deadly to humans, in an important step toward the design of a new class of antibiotics, according to an accelerated ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Researchers uncover chemical basis for extra 'quality control' in protein production

December 9, 2009 -Even small errors made by cells during protein production can have profound disease effects, and nature has developed ways to uncover these mistakes and correct them. Though in the case of one essential ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Software helps synthetic biologists customize protein production

A software program developed by a Penn State synthetic biologist could provide biotechnology companies with genetic plans to help them turn bacteria into molecular factories, capable of producing everything from biofuels ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jul 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0