Swapping a single amino acid in a simple bacterial protein changes its structure and function, revealing the effects of complex gene evolution, finds a new study published in the journal eLife. The study—conducted using ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 22, 2019
0
75
Scientists at the University of Groningen have constructed synthetic vesicles in which ATP, the main energy carrier in living cells, is produced. The vesicles use the ATP to maintain their volume and their ionic strength ...
Biotechnology
Sep 18, 2019
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994
Vanderbilt University researchers have discovered how a protein pump distinguishes between chemicals that it will expel from a cell and inhibitors that block its action.
Biochemistry
May 31, 2019
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15
Many biomolecules come in two versions that are each other's mirror image, like a left and a right hand. Cells generally use the left-hand version of amino acids to produce proteins, and uptake mechanisms were thought to ...
Biochemistry
Apr 26, 2019
0
70
A fundamental cellular mechanism ensures that proteins are transported to the places they are needed in the cells. So-called vesicles are responsible for that transport. Determining their composition has been difficult up ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 2, 2019
0
82
The research labs of Dr. Thomas Becker and Dr. Nikolaus Pfanner from the Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Freiburg have reported a function of the metabolite channel of the mitochondrial ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 7, 2019
0
105
Sugar transport through sugar transport proteins (STP) is unique to plants, and is important for the proper development of plant organs such as pollen. STPs are also used to concentrate sugars in specific tissues like fruit, ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2019
0
32
Your cells have an amazing ability—they can build their own energy factories, called mitochondria. Once built, mitochondria must move where needed in the cell. Defects in mitochondrial transport are a suspected cause of ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 17, 2019
1
97
An international team of researchers has solved the structure and elucidated the function of photosynthetic complex I. This membrane protein complex plays a major role in dynamically rewiring photosynthesis. The team from ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 21, 2018
0
11
One of the biggest helpers in our bodies' ongoing efforts to prevent DNA mutations—mutations that can lead to cancer—is actually rather tiny. Electrons, as it turns out, can signal proteins that repair DNA to patch up ...
Biochemistry
Jun 18, 2018
0
54
