Today, proteins that can be controlled with light are a widely used tool in research to specifically switch certain functions on and off in living organisms. Channelrhodopsins are often used for the technique known as optogenetics: ...
Biotechnology
May 20, 2021
0
8
Almost all bacteria rely on the same emergency valves—protein channels that pop open under pressure, releasing a deluge of cell contents. It is a last-ditch effort, a failsafe that prevents bacteria from exploding and dying ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 13, 2021
0
280
The transmembrane protein 206 abbreviated as TMEM206 is an evolutionarily conserved chloride channel that underlies the ubiquitously expressed, proton-activated, outwardly rectifying anion currents. In a new report now published ...
Laboratory cell experiments and computer simulations have revealed molecular mechanisms regulating a protein channel responsible for transporting chloride and other charged molecules across cell membranes. The findings were ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 16, 2020
0
18
MIT chemists have determined the molecular structure of a protein found in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This protein, called the envelope protein E, forms a cation-selective channel and plays a key role in the virus's ability to ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 12, 2020
0
202
Plants have a unique ability to safeguard themselves against pathogens by closing their pores—but until now, no one knew quite how they did it. Scientists have known that a flood of calcium into the cells surrounding the ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 26, 2020
2
336
Ion channels and membrane transporters are in the business of moving ions and small molecules across cellular membranes. They are essential for metabolic and cellular homeostasis, and for a host of biological signaling pathways.
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 29, 2020
0
7
A study has solved a long-standing debate about the transport of essential proteins, implicated in many human diseases, through one of the cell's most complex and sophisticated structures.
Molecular & Computational biology
May 4, 2020
0
255
"Distance keeping" is not exactly the motto of the glutamate receptors: Using high-resolution microscopy, researchers have discovered that the receptors usually appear in small groups at the synapses and are in contact with ...
Biotechnology
Apr 16, 2020
0
19
Even though they don't have conventional noses, insects have adapted to smell odors in nearly every imaginable niche. Mosquitoes find us by our odor molecules binding to odor receptors on their antennae, bees are drawn to ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 18, 2020
0
6
