https://phys.org/biology-news/molecular-computational/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news on molecular and Computational biology Human color vision depends on three types of cone cells in the retina. Although all three contain the same light-absorbing molecule, 11-cis-retinal, differences in the surrounding protein determine sensitivity to red, green or blue light. Understanding how these subtle protein differences produce such precise color discrimination has been difficult because cone pigments are highly unstable and structurally challenging to study. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-3d-views-primate-cone-pigments.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 16:10:01 EDT news704386141 A new computer model is one of the first artificial intelligence tools to advance scientific discovery in agriculture and biogeochemistry and is 50 times more efficient than its predecessors, according to a study that offers a proof-of-principle for how AI might be used to shed light on obscure biological processes. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-soil-carbon-effectively-efficient-ai.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 16:00:06 EDT news704374501 Roughly 20 million people receive a cancer diagnosis each year, and an estimated 1 in 5 people will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. Cancer cells arise from damage to the cell's instruction manual: DNA. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-uncover-mechanism-dna.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:00:05 EDT news704374202 The dangers of antibiotic overuse have become increasingly clear in recent decades. Excessive use accelerates the evolution of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, raising the alarming prospect of infections that no longer respond to existing drugs and pose a serious threat to public health. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hidden-dna-bacteria-faster-route.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:40:01 EDT news704376601 Gene editing is a highly precise and powerful technology that allows scientists to insert, delete, modify or replace DNA bases in living organisms. It has a variety of uses, including correcting disease-causing mutations and improving crops. Tools like CRISPR act as molecular scissors that target specific places in a genome to make these changes. But the technology is not perfect and can accidentally edit the wrong pieces of DNA or RNA. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-tiny-gene-editor-unintended.html Biotechnology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:38:56 EDT news704378300 Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and collaborators have uncovered one of the earliest steps in DNA replication: the moment a cell first opens its DNA to begin making a copy of its genome. The findings, published in Nature Communications, reveal where DNA first begins to "unzip" inside living cells and identify a molecular gate that helps prepare DNA for copying. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-cells-dna.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:20:03 EDT news704371141 For the first time, researchers can witness nanometer-scale thickness changes across a melting snowflake with a compact, lensless chip that captures gigapixel video at 30 frames per second across centimeter-scale fields. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-christmas-july-capture-gigapixel-3d.html Biotechnology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:00:03 EDT news704368931 In nature, the rarest ingredient can be the one that holds everything together. In a new article published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Dr. Erika C. Freeman of the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Berlin argues that a handful of scarce molecules can shape entire living communities, far out of proportion to how little is present. These are what ecologists call "keystone molecules." https://phys.org/news/2026-07-molecules-emerge-chemical-keystones-life.html Ecology Sun, 26 Jul 2026 13:00:01 EDT news703865858 All cells in the human body—and the motions they enable, from our beating hearts to our wiggling toes—use energy generated by a molecule called ATP. Its energy is thought to be released to fuel cellular processes in only one way: when ATP's decomposition is initiated by an enzyme, a specific type of protein. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-natural-molecule-cellular-energy.html Biotechnology Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:00:02 EDT news704032756 For more than a century, scientists have sought to reconstruct human evolution using diverse lines of evidence, including fossils, genetic variation across populations and ancient DNA. Building on these approaches, researchers are increasingly using large population biobanks to investigate how natural selection continues to shape the genomes of living populations. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-modern-biobanks-window-human.html Evolution Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:40:01 EDT news704119322 If you look up invasive species in a textbook, there's a good chance you'll find a picture of a brown tree snake. Native to Australia and the South Pacific, the brown tree snake arrived on Guam sometime after World War II, possibly by stowing away aboard cargo planes. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-inbred-brown-tree-snakes-island.html Ecology Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:07 EDT news704023681 The pearly razorfish (Xyrichtys novacula) is a small marine animal that lives in sandy coastal waters and feeds on creatures like shrimp. Known locally in Spain's Balearic Islands as raors, it is a popular dish in many homes and restaurants across the region. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fishing-fish-species-molecular.html Plants & Animals Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:40:06 EDT news704113560 Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi have discovered that the malaria parasite relies on a specific type of fat to survive and multiply within the human host, uncovering a previously unknown vulnerability that could help guide future treatments. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-malaria-parasite-consumes-linoleic-acid.html Ecology Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:40:04 EDT news704116621 La Trobe University scientists have uncovered the critical role fatty cell structures play in our body's early detection and defense against viruses. Published in Nature Communications, the discovery could open the door to a new type of antiviral strategy that harnesses the body's innate defense mechanisms rather than targeting individual viruses. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fat-cell-block-viral-antiviral.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:00:01 EDT news704111702 When scientists want to create a protein that can potentially treat disease, one approach is to begin with a different protein and evolve it in the lab, selecting over many generations for versions with a new, desired function. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-combining-ai-protein-laboratory-evolution.html Biotechnology Fri, 24 Jul 2026 10:40:01 EDT news704105143 Researchers at the University of Cologne have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that links two fundamental processes in mitochondria. The team, led by Julia Racho and Dylan Stobbe under the supervision of Professor Dr. Jan Riemer from the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Cologne, demonstrated that the oxidative folding of proteins—that is, the process by which proteins acquire their functional three-dimensional structure and additional stabilizing disulfide bonds—is closely linked to the formation of heme. Heme is a vital component of the red blood pigment hemoglobin and is also required for energy production in cells, as well as for many other biological processes. The findings are published in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-mitochondrial-mechanism-links-protein-heme.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:40:02 EDT news704037421 Drug development is among the slowest, most failure-prone processes in modern science, with about 90% of drug candidates never reaching the market. Today, artificial intelligence methods have accelerated the first step—plucking promising molecules out of endless possibilities—but countless challenges remain. A successful drug must be not only safe and effective but also able to bypass the body's defenses and reach the right target. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-drug-discovery-qa.html Biotechnology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:00:03 EDT news704030459 Spliceosomal introns are noncoding DNA sequences located between exons in many eukaryotic protein-coding genes. Most are removed post-transcriptionally by RNA splicing and do not encode proteins, but they have been implicated in various regulatory processes, including gene transcription, mRNA nuclear export and the generation of protein diversity. Whether spliceosomal introns are essential for fundamental cellular life has long been unclear. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-yeast-survives-spliceosomal-introns.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 15:20:05 EDT news704031421 Viruses lack the molecular machinery required for protein synthesis. Instead, they hijack the host's protein-making machinery, specifically ribosomes and translational factors. This process is essential for viral multiplication and infection. Viruses have RNA genomes or mRNAs containing structured regions called internal ribosomal entry sites (IRES) that help capture the host ribosome to translate viral genes while translation of host genes is blocked. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-encephalomyocarditis-virus-hijacks-host-protein.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 13:20:08 EDT news704018934 A patient with a severe infection is prescribed a potent antibiotic. Hopes for improvement are high, but just after treatment is given, resistance to the drug increases thousands of times. How could this happen? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-environmental-bacteria-ferry-genes-boost.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 13:20:05 EDT news704029321 Tanneries generate large quantities of skin trimmings before hides are tanned. These trimmings contain collagen but are commonly treated as low-value waste. An international research team has developed a method that uses ficin, a protein-digesting enzyme obtained from fig leaves, to recover type I collagen from lambskin trimming waste. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fig-leaf-enzyme-tannery-high.html Biotechnology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 09:40:01 EDT news704005801 For cells to function properly, they must produce the right amount of each protein. It is a delicate balance: Both too little and too much can compromise essential cellular functions. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has now shown that even a modest excess of tubulin—the protein that assembles into microtubules, the cell's internal scaffolding—is enough to disrupt tissue architecture and reduce cell viability. Published in Nature Communications, the study demonstrates that the quantity of a protein is just as important as its function. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-slight-overproduction-tubulin-cellular-health.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:40:04 EDT news703947121 All cellular life—from humans to bacteria—possesses two layers of immunity: innate and adaptive. Scientists have long understood how these two types of immunity work together in higher organisms but not in the microbial world. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-crispr-cas-layered-bacterial-defense.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:40:06 EDT news703945801 The enzyme tRNA-guanine transglycosylase (TGT) chemically modifies transfer RNA (tRNA) and plays a key role in how disease-causing bacteria control the production of proteins needed to cause infection. E. coli TGT is nearly identical to the one found in Shigella, which causes the intestinal infection shigellosis. Traditionally, scientists have used E. coli TGT as a primary model to understand how TGT works; however, they have struggled to visualize the atomic structure of E. coli TGT because the protein is difficult to crystallize, limiting their ability to learn more about the enzyme. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cryo-em-visualization-coli-tgt.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:20:05 EDT news703950867 A genomic surveillance study has shed new light on how an invasive urban malaria mosquito species spread from Asia to Africa, potentially threatening public health across a rapidly urbanizing continent where malaria is mainly concentrated in rural areas. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-invasive-malaria-mosquito-asia-africa.html Ecology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:20:06 EDT news703940522 Antibiotics are a medical marvel, but many microbes are gaining the ability to resist and tolerate these therapeutics. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have uncovered how S. pneumoniae adapts to antibiotic exposure and immune pressures. Their findings reveal that changes in RNA regulation enable bacteria to enter a state of antibiotic tolerance. The results provide a deeper understanding of how pathogens survive treatment and could inform strategies to improve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics. The findings were published in Cell Host & Microbe. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-antibiotic-tolerant-bacteria-hidden-rna.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:00:04 EDT news703940161 The American chestnut tree was a dominant and iconic species in many Appalachian forests until it was devastated by an introduced fungus from Asia called chestnut blight. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-genetic-approaches-american-chestnut-glory.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news703942561 A biotech company called Revel Pharmaceuticals is looking into ways to reverse aging, and the company's science team, along with researchers from the company Calico and the University of Colorado, may be a step closer to realizing the so-called fountain of youth. The team recently published their study in Nature Communications detailing how they engineered an enzyme capable of reversing a particular form of age-related damage and demonstrated its competence with test results. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-enzyme-erases-stubborn-aging-human.html Biotechnology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:40:07 EDT news703934311 When a fruit fly catches a whiff of a ripe peach, it quickly heads toward it. Time after time, it finds the fruit—even from many feet away and even if the scent arrives only as a few drifting, disconnected puffs. How do they home in with such unerring accuracy? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fruit-flies-fleeting-scent-puffs.html Plants & Animals Wed, 22 Jul 2026 11:00:29 EDT news703857961 Before a hydra can regrow a head or foot, its cells appear to rebuild the internal map that tells them where they are and what they should become next, FMI researchers report. The work suggests that cells need to interpret not only where they are in the body, but also what stage of regeneration they are in—a finding that could help explain how tissues regenerate after injury. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hydra-rebuilds-body-internal-cellular.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:00:07 EDT news703925027