A new study at the University of Chicago has shown that elaborate protein structures accumulate over deep time even when they serve no purpose, because a universal biochemical property and the genetic code force natural selection ...
Evolution
Dec 9, 2020
3
4715
Most biological processes are carried out by complexes of multiple proteins that work together to carry out some function. How these complicated structures could have evolved is one of modern biology's great puzzles, because ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 20, 2020
1
203
By using ancient protein sequencing, researchers have retrieved genetic information from a 1.9 million year old extinct, giant primate that used to live in a subtropical area in southern China. The genetic information allows ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 13, 2019
12
5767
Solving a decades-old mystery, Stanford researchers have discovered proteins that enable hardy microbes called archaea to toughen up their membranes when waters are overly warm. Finding these proteins could help scientists ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 7, 2019
0
103
"Bookworm" is a cute thing to call a voracious reader, but actual bookworms—as well as microorganisms and time—break down the flour pastes commonly used to keep old publications in one piece.
Biochemistry
Apr 25, 2024
0
70
To carry out all of life's functions, proteins must be produced from instructions carried by genes within DNA and delivered to the cell's protein-making machinery by messenger RNA.
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 24, 2023
0
22
Teeth could be capable of preserving antibodies for hundreds of years, allowing scientists to investigate the history of infectious human diseases, a new study has found.
Biotechnology
Aug 16, 2023
0
69
A team of researchers from the Faculty of Science at Charles University, BIOCEV and IOCB (Czech Republic), Johns Hopkins University (U.S.) and ELSI (Japan) has discovered why modern proteins use a quasi-universal repertoire ...
Evolution
Feb 27, 2023
0
42
The biomolecule diphthamide is essential for the proper formation of proteins in cells. When humans are infected with diphtheria, diphthamide is altered by the diphtheria toxin so that life-threatening complications can arise ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 15, 2022
0
79
"The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion," Albert Einstein wrote. Perhaps this is nowhere more evident than in protein evolution, where past and present versions of the ...
Evolution
Aug 25, 2021
0
2121
