Biophysicists zoom in on pore-forming toxina new study by Rice university biophysicists offers the most comprehensive picture yet of the molecular-level action of melittin the principal toxin in bee venom.
The team used a combination of experiments to zero in on the molecular activity of melittin at the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) the lowest concentration that's been shown to slow the growth of target cell populations.
We want to understand how pore formation works at this critical concentration including both at the molecular scale
By correlating these findings with other data about the molecular characteristics of the pores themselves we get the first complete picture of the process of stable melittin-induced pore formation.
The molecular level data came from a series of X-ray diffraction experiments performed by Lee at NSRRC.
Using mutation rates as a molecular clock the authors determined that the ancestor of clade A jumped from a bovine host to humans between 1894 and 1977
Soot also known as black carbon is made of fine carbon-based particles that are given off by car and truck tailpipes and wood stoves.
With PNNL's climate model Smith created more than 1400 potential scenarios to reflect the many possibilities surrounding aerosols tiny particles including soot that float in the atmosphere.
Ongoing PNNL research is evaluating how aerosol particles affect the atmosphere including temperature and precipitation.
The researchers also attached other components such as molecules to block a protein (laminin-411) that cancer cells need to make new blood vessels for growth.
They are the latest evolution of molecular drugs designed to slow or stop cancers by blocking them in multiple ways.
#A layer of tiny grains can slow sound wavesin some ways granular material--such as a pile of sand--can behave much like a crystal with its close-packed grains mimicking the precise orderly arrangement of crystalline atoms.
But most such research has focused on the properties of sand-sized particles about a millimeter across Fang says.
The new work is the first to examine the very different properties of particles that are about one-thousandth that size or one micrometer across
The odorant receptor molecules sit on the surface of sensory nerve cells in our nose. When they bind a chemical compound drifting through the air the nerve cell sends an impulse to the brain leading ultimately to the perception of a smell.
Close to the nanopillar surface the grains easily slide against each other to create atom-sized steps reducing material strength.
since omega-3 deficiencies causes an increase of omega-6 fats which are proinflammatory molecules in the brain and other tissues.
Lastly unlike the molecules in chemical plant-protection products viruses are able to mutate which limits the development of resistance in their host.
molecular analyses to describe the genetic structure of the pests a study of the impact of temperatures on their ecology by means of drones with thermal cameras#The aim is to get a better understanding of the insects'population dynamics
Identification of the closest known relatives of this fungus makes it possible to move forward with genetic work to examine the molecular toolbox this fungus uses to kill bats according to Lindner a research plant pathologist.
and land usethe discovery of the Shell gene and its two naturally occurring mutations highlight new molecular strategies to identify seeds
and can readily be produced mass--can be engineered to produce molecules that can cure parasitic diseases.
and studying light-activated particles. One of her creations gold nanoshells is the subject of several clinical trials for cancer treatment.
and exposed to sunlight the particles heat up so quickly they instantly vaporize water and create steam.
Measurement of predicted particle decay with implications for dark matter searcha discovery facilitated by Rice university's contribution to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will impact scientists'search for dark matter in the universe.
That match with only a 1-in-100000 chance of being caused by a statistical error virtually eliminates any possibility that B-sub-s meson decay is related to interaction with particles predicted by dark matter theories as some physicists have suspected.
The particle itself was discovered quite some time ago and that isn't news said Rice physicist Paul Padley a co-investigator on the CMS experiment
But there has been the possibility it could decay through new particles predicted by dark matter theories such as supersymmetry.
or other new particles then the prediction of how often this decay should happen would be wrong.
#Graphene onion rings have delicious potentialconcentric hexagons of graphene grown in a furnace at Rice university represent the first time anyone has synthesized graphene nanoribbons on metal from the bottom up--atom by atom.
The Tour lab pioneered the bulk manufacture of single-atom-thick graphene nanoribbons in 2009 with the discovery that carbon nanotubes could be unzipped chemically into long thin sheets.
Particle size has bioaccessibility of the energy of the food that is being consumed said Dr. Richard Mattes (CQ) professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue University West Lafayette Ind.
The study found with fewer chews the larger particles were eliminated by the body. With more chews the smaller particles were absorbed more readily into the system.
If the goal is to include food that is enjoyable and contribute protein a whole almond is probably the way you want to go Mattes said.
Dr Evropi Theodoratou of the University of Edinburgh's School of Molecular Genetic and Population Health Sciences said:
The first IBEX images released in 2009 showed an unexpected ribbon of surprisingly high energetic neutral atom (ENA) emissions circling the upwind side of the solar system.
When electricity passes through a layer of silicon oxide it strips away oxygen molecules and creates a channel of pure metallic phase silicon that is less than five nanometers wide.
#Plant molecular biologist are getting to the root of the matterworking to identify key genes in the root development of poplar trees three Michigan Technological University scientists have come up with a new model for how genes interact
Wei a molecular biologist also has extensive knowledge of computer science and he is adept at applying it to large biological data sets.
The pitch particles are two nanometers in size which makes our flakes about ten thousand times larger said Rice graduate student Changsheng Xiang lead author of the new paper.
Unlike pitch the atom-thick flakes have an enormous surface area and cling to each other like the scales on a fish when pulled into a fiber.
#Second door discovered in war against mosquito-borne diseasesin the global war against disease-carrying mosquitoes scientists have believed long that a single molecular door was the key target for insecticide.
Our discovery of a second receptor in the mosquitoes'sodium channel gives us a better understanding of how the insecticide works at a molecular level as well as could lead to ways to stem mosquitoes'resistance to pyrethroids.
At the molecular level resistance appears as mutations in the primary receptor in the sodium channel that allow mosquitoes to survive exposure to the insecticide.
Dr. Nommsen-Rivers and her colleagues were able to use a noninvasive method to capture mammary gland RNA--a chain of molecules that are blueprints for making specified proteins--in samples of human breast milk.
Dr. Nommsen-Rivers and her colleagues were able to use a noninvasive method to capture mammary gland RNA--a chain of molecules that are blueprints for making specified proteins--in samples of human breast milk.
In AMS the material being analyzed is bombarded with cesium atoms which sputters off carbon atoms so the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 can be measured.
prevent certain diseasesscientists using sophisticated imaging techniques have observed a molecular protein folding process that may help medical researchers understand
So there are special protein machines known as molecular chaperones in the cell that help proteins fold.
In the cell enzymes for example are specialized proteins that help speed biological processes along by binding molecules and bringing them together in just the right way.
And the proteins--those little beads on the string that are designed to fold up like origami--are folded to position all these beads in three-dimensional space to perfectly wrap around those molecules
and parts of the molecule moved to peel the chaperone box away from the bound protein--or gift in the box.
prevent certain diseasesscientists using sophisticated imaging techniques have observed a molecular protein folding process that may help medical researchers understand
So there are special protein machines known as molecular chaperones in the cell that help proteins fold.
In the cell enzymes for example are specialized proteins that help speed biological processes along by binding molecules and bringing them together in just the right way.
And the proteins--those little beads on the string that are designed to fold up like origami--are folded to position all these beads in three-dimensional space to perfectly wrap around those molecules
and parts of the molecule moved to peel the chaperone box away from the bound protein--or gift in the box.
This will help researchers to better understand the molecular mechanisms behind infection and develop new approaches for controlling this devastating pathogen.
Understanding this molecular back-and-forth at all the different levels and stages will be useful to either engineer the process
Conceivable aggravation of forest decline by climate changea new type of electron microscope enabled the observation of particle deliquescence and dynamics under changing air humidity.
Particularly because air concentrations of hygroscopic particles have increased largely within the last decades says Dr. Burkhardt.
These biomarkers were CD68 a marker for inflammatory cells and adiponectin a molecule with a known role in the development of metabolic syndrome.
which comes in the form of long cellulose molecules packed inside the leaf clippings the ants deliver.
In the new experiments the Rice lab mixed graphene nanoribbons and tin oxide particles about 10 nanometers wide in a slurry with a cellulose gum binder and a bit of water spread it on a current collector
GNRS are a single atom thick and thousands of times longer than they are wide.
Since the tin oxide particles are only a few nanometers in size and permitted to remain that way by being dispersed on GNR surfaces the volume changes in the nanoparticles are not dramatic.
Molecule per molecule methane is 22 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide on a 100-year timescale and 105 times more potent on a 20-year timescale.
or make plants more resistant to disease says the senior investigator Joseph R. Ecker head of Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology laboratory.
and phosphorus (P) attached to soil particles. But no-till requires herbicides to control weeds
Semiconducting films for atom-thick circuitsscientists at Rice university and Oak ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have advanced on the goal of two-dimensional electronics with a method to control the growth of uniform atomic layers of molybdenum disulfide (MDS.
Graphene and hbn are flat with arrays of hexagons formed by their constituent atoms. But while MDS looks hexagonal
when viewed from above it is actually a stack with a layer of molybdenum atoms between two layers of sulfur atoms.
Our microscopy facility at ORNL allows us to see materials in a way they've never been seen before--down to the level of individual atoms.
The lime was hydrated--incorporating water molecules into its structure --and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.
but enzymes released by M. sexta caterpillars'spit change some of these molecules into (E)- 2-hexenyl acetate
In its perfect crystalline form graphene (a one-atom-thick carbon layer) is the strongest material ever measured as the Columbia Engineering team reported in Science in 2008--so strong that as Hone observed it would take an elephant balanced on a pencil to break through a sheet
This is due to all the atoms in graphene being surface atoms so surface damage that would normally not degrade the strength of 3d materials can completely destroy the strength of 2d materials.
The bacterial diversity in the cloaca of each bird could be estimated with the aid of molecular genetic techniques.
The Iowa State team replaced the initial steaming with ultrasound sonically smashing the corn into tiny particles in the same way physicians use ultrasound to shatter kidney stones.
and neuroscience and director of the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois. And finding that it's Egr with all that this gene is known to do in vertebrates provides another demonstration that some of the molecular mechanisms underlying behavioral plasticity
The amount of harmful fat particles in the blood also declined says Lieselotte Cloetens a biomedical nutrition researcher at Lund University.
The one-atom-thick form of carbon can act as a go-between that allows vertically aligned carbon nanotubes to grow on nearly anything.
By its very nature one-atom-thick graphene is all surface area. The same could be said of carbon nanotubes which are basically rolled-up tubes of graphene.
and hold the airborne iron-based catalyst particles from which the nanotubes grow. The researchers think graphene facilitates nanotube growth by keeping the catalyst particles from clumping.
Ajayan thinks the extreme thinness of graphene does the trick. In a previous study the Rice lab found graphene shows materials coated with graphene can get wet
Professor G. Eric Schaller the paper's senior author studies the molecular mechanisms by which a plant recognizes a hormone
The research team's goal is to develop compounds perfectly matched to the acetylcholinesterase molecules in malaria-transmitting mosquitoes he said.
For example we can now imagine sandwiching two different monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides between layers of graphene to make solar cells that are only eight atoms thick--20 thousand times smaller than a human hair!
To study the material the researchers refined an existing technique to grow large symmetric crystals up to 100 microns across but only three atoms thick.
--and it would not have misaligned any atoms says Pinshane Huang a Phd student in the David Muller lab at Cornell and the paper's third lead author.
and saw lines of misaligned atoms. Once they knew where to find the grain boundaries
and saw that the single defective line of atoms at the grain boundaries could drastically change the key electronic and optical properties of the Mos2.
Wildfires impact atmospheric conditions through emissions of gases particles water and heat. Some of the article focuses on radiative forcing from fire emissions.
Smoke particles can generate radiative forcing mainly through scattering and absorbing solar radiation (direct radiative forcing)
or burning seasons smoke particles reduce overall solar radiation absorbed by the atmosphere at local and regional levels.
For research to be published in elife a team of molecular biologists from Europe and the US reconstructed the spread of the potato blight pathogen from dried plants.
When sunlight is absorbed by pigment molecules in a chloroplast an energized electron is generated that moves from molecule to molecule through a transport chain until ultimately it drives the conversion of carbon dioxide into carbohydrate sugars.
while the photo-generated holes in the titanium oxide nanowires oxidize water to evolve oxygen molecules.
HA receptor-binding specificity is a major molecular determinant for the host range of influenza viruses.
#Molecular basis of strawberry aromayou know that summer is here when juicy red strawberries start to appear on the shelves.
In this process a molecule precursor binds to the Faeo enzyme (Fragaria x ananassa enone oxidoreductase) which converts it into the final product namely HDMF.
Molecular analysis reveals a new biosynthetic routethe TUM scientists were able to map this reaction path in detail.
To understand how enzymes catalyze the biosynthesis of these new metabolic products the research team took advantage of X-ray structural analysis. This allowed them to view the 3d structure of the molecules.
For the strawberry aroma we investigated altogether six different enzyme-molecule combinations --and ended up understanding how Faeo produces the HDMF flavor compound explains Dr. Andr Schiefner from The chair of Biological Chemistry.
and electrons are transferred specifically to a particular part of the molecule. Thus the Faeo enzyme represents the first member of new class of biocatalysts--a discovery
The researchers also took into account the patterns of attachment of the HA protein to sugar molecules called glycans.
#Exotic atoms hold clues to unsolved physics puzzle at the dawn of the universean international team of physicists has found the first direct evidence of pear shaped nuclei in exotic atoms.
Antimatter particles have the same mass but opposite charge from their matter counterparts. Antimatter is rare in the known universe flitting briefly in and out of existence in cosmic rays solar flares and particle accelerators like CERN's Large Hadron Collider for example.
and antimatter particles mutually destruct or annihilate. What caused the matter/antimatter imbalance is one of physics'great mysteries.
And the strong and weak forces operate in the cores of atoms binding together neutrons and protons or causing those particles to decay.
The researchers confirmed that the cores of these atoms are shaped like pears rather than the more typical spherical orange or elliptical watermelon profiles.
and radon atoms at CERN's Isotope Separator facility ISOLDE The atom beams were accelerated and smashed into targets of nickel cadmium
In this study we wanted to determine on a molecular level what makes a muscle fit during development or following exercise.
and muscle fiber type-switching Kelly's team compared the molecular differences between these two disparate mouse models.
The two mouse models also differed in molecular profiling according to this study. The team discovered that marathon mice produce certain micrornas that are capable of activating the fiber switch.
Approaches will include new molecular breeding and genetic engineering technologies to speed up the selection and production of CMD and CBSD resistant cassava cultivars more appealing to farmers.
Thanks to molecular analyses biologists discovered that such crossing has already been carried out previously confirming the possibility of hybridizing the two subspecies.
When milk allergic children inhale chalk particles containing casein life-threatening asthma attacks and other respiratory issues can occur.
or dustless still release small particles into the air said Carlos H. Larramendi MD lead study author.
when the particles are inhaled by children with milk allergy coughing wheezing and shortness of breath can occur.
We found that the perfect signal p-coumaric acid is in everything that bees eat--it's the monomer that goes into the macromolecule called sporopollenin
In the study the researchers were able to identify the subtypes through genetic and molecular labeling methods.
Now we know the molecular triggers for how it occurs. Noel's co-senior investigator on the project Joanne Chory professor and director of Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology laboratory says the team found the molecular wake-up call for burned forests.
What we discovered she says is how a dying plant generates a chemical message for the next generation telling dormant seeds it's time to sprout.
The chemical structures the team solved revealed all the molecular contacts between karrikin and KAI2 according to Salk research associate Yongxia Guo a structural enzymologist and one of the study's lead investigators.
of this family of enzymes has been recruited somehow through natural selection to bind to this molecule in smoke
The molecules in a liquid crystal elastomer are like rods that want to point in a particular direction Verduzco said.
Before testing the researchers chemically attached liquid crystal molecules--similar to those used in LCD displays--to the silicones.
and pseudochromosomal molecules are reassembled using powerful computers and algorithms. Wheat has the largest genome among crop plants
even though soil organic carbon concentration increased Blanco says noting that soil particles usually bind together more strongly in aggregates as soil organic carbon concentrations rise.
Some studies suggest that adding fertilizers rich in ammonium ions may cause soil particles to disperse rather than aggregate thereby offsetting any positive effects of increased soil organic carbon content.
and emit isoprene an abundant molecule in the air known to protect leaves from oxygen damage and temperature fluctuations.
However in 2004 researchers contrary to popular assumptions revealed that isoprene was involved likely in the production of particulate matter tiny particles that can get lodged in lungs lead to lung cancer and asthma and damage other tissues not to mention the environment.
which isoprene contributes to the production of these tiny potentially health-damaging particles. The study found that isoprene once it is altered chemically via exposure to the sun reacts with human-made nitrogen oxides to create particulate matter.
Supernova may have been the one that triggered the formation of the solar systemit's a bit like learning the secrets of the family that lived in your house in the 1800s by examining dust particles they left behind in cracks in the floorboards.
Isotopes are different atoms of the same chemical element that have a slightly different mass. Different stars produce different proportions of isotopes.
whose explosion is thought to have started kick the collapse of the molecular cloud out of which the planets of the solar system formed?
and all the nooks and crannies that it needs to present to other molecules to be able to function.
and would essentially kill the virus. We are now designing small molecules that could block ring formation
and ingenious molecular-level designs Maiti said. Methane is far more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2.
Zeolites are unique structures that can be used for many different types of gas separations and storage applications because of their diverse topology from various networks of the framework atoms.
This beautiful'molecular fossil'has a remarkably slow mutation rate meaning that its mitochondrial genome has remained largely unchanged
If scientists can pinpoint the molecular triggers in snacks that stimulate the reward center in the brain it may be possible to develop drugs
and the nanogumbos materials--particles so small that 100000 could fit across the width of a human hair.
If even an early form of cancer were present the particles would accumulate in the abnormal tissue
Warner said that nanogumbos technology allows scientists to produce new nanoparticles in a focused way such that these particles are produced for specific uses from the beginning.
but the mechanism at the molecular level has not been clear says Jun-Lin Guan Ph d. the senior author of the FIP200 paper
Abnormally higher levels of ROS can cause neural stem cells to start differentiating Guan is a professor in the Molecular Medicine & Genetics division of the U-M Department of Internal medicine and in the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology.
-M Department of Neurology research lab member Christine Bian and Yuan Zhu Ph d. an associate professor in Molecular Medicine & Genetics and Cell & Developmental Biology.
and determine the specific location where an individual enzyme molecule was binding. Enter PALM a technique in
and Fox other co-authors of the paper A single-molecule analysis reveals morphological targets for cellulase synergy were Phillip Jess Rakesh Jambusaria and Genny Moo.
Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer On earth a material like plastics consisting of molecules linked together into long chains.
They also pinpointed the genes involved in polymerizing nanocellulose (linking its molecules together into long chains)
Cellular/Molecular Biol) Nancy Liao (M. Sc. MBB; Diana Palmquist (B. Sc. MBB) and Shaun Jackman (B. Sc.
Their study which includes molecular evidence that sorghum lacks the proteins toxic to people with celiac disease appears in ACS'Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
The researchers set out to make a detailed molecular determination of whether sorghum contains those toxic gluten proteins.
and reproduce instead of splitting water molecules to yield pure hydrogen. To liberate the hydrogen Virginia Tech scientists separated a number of enzymes from their native microorganisms to create a customized enzyme cocktail that does not occur in nature.
The energy stored in xylose splits water molecules yielding high-purity hydrogen that can be utilized directly by proton-exchange membrane fuel cells.
The molecular characterizations of CTCS will provide real-time information allowing us to choose the right treatment for the right patient at the right time.
and limited capability of captured cells to be utilized for later molecular analysis. Our technology is the combination of three state-of-the-art technologies:
and maintain their integrity for sophisticated genomic and behavioral analyses said Hsian-Rong Tseng Phd associate professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA and the inventor of the Nanovelcro Chip concept and device.
UCLA researchers were supported by a Creativity Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation and research grants (R21 CA151159 and R33 CA157396) from the National institutes of health/National Cancer Institute Innovative Molecular Analysis
#Even graphene has weak spotsgraphene the single-atom-thick form of carbon has become famous for its extraordinary strength.
The kryptonite to this Superman of materials is in the form of a seven-atom ring that inevitably occurs at the junctions of grain boundaries in graphene where the regular array of hexagonal units is interrupted.
and the atoms at these boundaries are forced occasionally to change the way they bond by the unbreakable rules of topology.
Most common of the defects in graphene formation studied by Yakobson's group are adjacent five-and seven-atom rings that are a little weaker than the hexagons around them.
The team calculated that the particular seven-atom rings found at junctions of three islands are the weakest points where cracks are most likely to form.
They determined through molecular dynamics simulation and good old mathematical analysis that in a graphene quilt the grain boundaries act like levers that amplify the tension (through a dislocation pileup) and concentrate it at the defect either where the three domains meet or where a grain boundary between two domains ends.
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