Tag Archive for 'Protein'

Schematic overview of the mechanism of action of the implemented snake venom proteins. Ecarin, a procoagulant snake venom protein bypasses the activation of series of clotting factors via intrinsic and extrinsic clotting pathway and directly activates prothrombin to thrombin thereby producing a fibrin blood clot. Once the clot is formed, clot breakdown (fibrinolysis) is initiated by the activation of plasminogen mainly by tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), forming active plasmin which proteolytically acts on the fibrin blood clot. Textilinin, an antifibrinolytic snake venom protein binds to plasmin with high specificity and inhibits the action of plasmin, stabilizing the fibrin blood clot. Image credit: Yegappan et al., doi: 10.1002/adhm.202200574.

Researchers Create Snake Venom Hydrogel that Rapidly Stops Uncontrolled Bleeding

Jun 20, 2022 by News Staff

The newly-developed rapid wound sealant is composed of two snake venom proteins: ecarin, which rapidly initiates blood clotting, and textilinin, which...

Ancyromonas sigmoides, an understudied microbe that holds enormous promise for investigations into the origin of eukaryotes. Image credit: Naoji Yubuki.

Chromatin First Evolved in Ancient Microbes 1-2 Billion Years Ago, New Research Suggests

Jun 13, 2022 by News Staff

Chromatin is the ensemble of genomic DNA and a large number of proteins. Despite its fundamental role in biology of eukaryotic cells, scientists lack a...

Illustration of Genyornis newtoni being hunted by a giant lizard in Australia about 50,000 years ago. Image credit: Peter Trusler, Monash University.

Australia’s First People Consumed Eggs of Giant Birds: Study

May 25, 2022 by News Staff

Burn marks discovered on the 50,000-year-old eggshell fragments several years ago suggested the first Australians cooked and ate large eggs from extinct...

With over a million species described, insects are a treasure trove of diversity and represent boundless possibilities as research tools for answering fundamental questions in biology. Current approaches for insect gene editing require microinjection of materials into early embryos, which is highly challenging in most species. Shirai et al. established and optimized a simple and efficient method for insect gene editing by adult injection, which can be readily implemented in any laboratory and directly applied to a great diversity of non-model insect species. Image credit: Shirai et al., doi: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2022.100215.

Scientists Develop New CRISPR Method for Insect Gene Editing

May 18, 2022 by News Staff

Current approaches for insect gene editing require microinjection of materials into early embryos. This severely limits the application of gene editing...

The study sheds new light on the link between sleep deprivation and obesity. Image credit: Sweet Briar College.

New Animal Study Pinpoints Molecular Basis of Deep Sleep

Apr 29, 2022 by News Staff

Identification of mechanisms which increase deep sleep could lead to novel treatments which promote the restorative effects of sleep. Uygun et al. show...

Jaws of Glycera dibranchiata are composites of protein, melanin, and both mineral and ionic copper; to date, nanomechanical tests have correlated the ionic copper and melanin with hardness and wear resistance, but the function of protein is uncertain. Wonderly et al. characterize a Gly- and His-rich protein called multi-tasking protein (MTP) and, using recombinant protein, show that it performs six distinct functions critical for jaw formation and performance, namely (1) recruiting 22 equiv of Cu2+, (2) mediating a liquid-liquid phase separation of the MTP-copper complex, (3) catalyzing the oxidation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (Dopa) to melanin, (4) templating the interfacial polymerization of melanin, (5) integrating melanin and itself into thin films and fibers, and (6) providing intermolecular cohesion through Cu bridging. MTP achieves all these by assuming unprecedented roles as a building block, organizer, and fabricator -- a processing feat of considerable relevance to the autonomous production of other polymer composites, blends, and/or networks. Image credit: Wonderly et al., doi: 10.1016/j.matt.2022.04.001.

Study: Bloodworms Use Copper Harvested From Marine Sediments to Form Their Unique Jaws

Apr 26, 2022 by News Staff

Bloodworms Glycera dibranchiata are known for their unusual jaws, which are made of protein (∼50% w/w), ionic and mineralized copper (up to 10%), and...

This image shows subcellular localization of ADRAM (red) in primary cortical neurons. Scale bar - 20 μm. Image credit: Wei et al., doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110546.

Study: Junk DNA Could Be Key to Extinguishing Fear-Related Memories

Mar 25, 2022 by News Staff

Queensland Brain Institute’s Dr. Timothy Bredy and colleagues have discovered an experience-induced non-coding RNA, named ADRAM (activity-dependent lncRNA...

Caffeine blocks PCSK9 expression and increases LDL cholesterol clearance in hepatocytes. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Study: Caffeine Impacts Expression of Genes Known to Mediate Cardiovascular Risk

Feb 18, 2022 by News Staff

Evidence suggests that caffeine reduces cardiovascular disease risk. However, the mechanism by which this occurs is still unknown. In a new study, researchers...

The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus). Image credit: Seashalia Gibb.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Numbat

Feb 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Two teams of genetic researchers have sequenced the genome of the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), a critically endangered Australian insectivorous marsupial...

The diversity of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) was already declining some 900 to 800 years before its discovery by Georg Wilhelm Steller. Image credit: R. Ellis.

Genetic Secrets of Steller’s Sea Cow Revealed

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has extracted and analyzed ancient DNA from fragmentary remains of 12 individuals of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis...

A female European mistletoe (Viscum album) plant in winter in the Herrenhäuser Gardens in Hanover, Germany. Image credit: Schröder et al., oi: 10.1111/tpj.15558.

Researchers Sequence Gene Space of European Mistletoe

Feb 4, 2022 by News Staff

The European mistletoe (Viscum album) is a hemiparasitic flowering plant steeped in ancient associations with druids and Northern European folklore. Since...

FGF21 suppresses alcohol consumption through a specific population of neurons in the brain. Image credit: Flippo et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2021.12.024.

Hormone Treatment Suppresses Alcohol Consumption in Non-Human Primates

Feb 2, 2022 by News Staff

Vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) with a strong preference for ethanol that were given an analogue of FGF21 (fibroblast growth factor 21), a powerful...

Kennedy et al. found that fetal gut colonization of healthy term infants does not occur before birth. Image credit: Darryl Leja, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health.

Animal Study Demonstrates How Triclosan Can Trigger Gut Inflammation

Jan 11, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists have identified bacteria and specific bacterial enzymes that trigger harmful effects of triclosan, an antimicrobial agent found in thousands...

Microscopic cysts containing Toxoplasma gondii develop in the tissues of many vertebrates. Here, in mouse brain tissue, thousands of bradyzoites (stained red) are enveloped by a thin parasite cyst wall. Image credit: Jitinder P. Dubey.

New Study Shows How Dormant Toxoplasma Parasites Manipulate Neurons to Survive

Dec 27, 2021 by News Staff

Toxoplasma gondii develops a latent infection in the muscle and central nervous system that acts as a reservoir for acute-stage reactivation in vulnerable...

Reconstruction of the Darwin’s ground sloth (Mylodon darwinii) feeding on the carcass of the hoofed native herbivore Macrauchenia. These extinct mammals roamed the Pleistocene landscape of Patagonia and other parts of high and mid-latitude South America, like this reconstructed scene from about 12,000 years ago in front of the famous Mylodon Cave (Cueva del Milodón) in southern Chile. Image credit: Jorge Blanco.

Darwin’s Ground Sloth was Opportunistic Omnivore, Study Says

Oct 7, 2021 by News Staff

New research published in the journal Scientific Reports provides the first direct evidence of omnivory in an ancient sloth species. Reconstruction of...

$Yolk in the intestinal lumen of Caenorhabditis elegans larva after being left on a plate with no food apart from vented yolk for 4 h. Top: Nomarski microscopy image. Bottom left: larva imaged immediately after removal from plates using reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) to highlight the refractive material of the terminal web that surrounds the intestinal lumen (red) and superimposed airyscan image (green) for GFP-labeled yolk. Bottom right: same larva imaged 100 min later showing yolk no longer in the lumen, either due to defecation or digestion; this disappearance confirms that the green fluorescence indicated in the central panel corresponds to yolk within the intestinal lumen. Scale bar - 20 μm. Image credit: Kern et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25821-y.$

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Tag Archive for Protein