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New mechanism of transcriptional regulators influences tumor development

The Wistar Institute scientists have discovered a novel mechanism of transcriptional regulation of cellular senescence that promotes the release of inflammatory molecules that, in turn, affect tumor growth by changing the surrounding microenvironment.

2 Apr 2021

Study reveals key process by which plants switch between different stress responses

To design effective strategies that protect significant agricultural crops from climate change, it is important to understand how plants react to stressful environmental conditions.

15 Feb 2021

3D genome study reveals molecular regulatory mechanisms of human brain evolution

A team led by Prof. SU Bing from the Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Prof. LI Cheng from Peking University, and Prof. ZHANG Shihua from the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science of CAS has reported the highest resolution by far of the 3D genome of the primate brain, and demonstrated the molecular regulatory mechanisms of human brain evolution through cross-species multi-omics analysis and experimental validation. The study was published in Cell.

29 Jan 2021

LEAFY protein licenses cell reprogramming to floral fate

Cells don't express all the genes they contain all the time. The portion of our genome that encodes eye color, for example, doesn't need to be turned on in liver cells. In plants, genes encoding the structure of a flower can be turned off in cells that will form a leaf.

28 Jan 2021

Pioneer transcription factors help turn on key genes that give cells unique properties

Biologists have long wondered how complex organisms contain a variety of dramatically different types of cells with specialized functions, even though all of those cells are genetically identical.

25 Jan 2021

Researchers use heat map data to reverse engineer chromosome models

Genome analysis can provide information on genes and their location on a strand of DNA, but such analysis reveals little about their spatial location in relation to one another within chromosomes -- the highly complex, three-dimensional structures that hold genetic information.

15 Jan 2021

Study reveals richness of space-time gene expression dynamics of the liver

Nothing in biology is static. Biological processes fluctuate over time, and if we are to put together an accurate picture of cells, tissues, organs etc., we have to take into account their temporal patterns. In fact, this effort has given rise to an entire field of study known as "chronobiology".

12 Jan 2021

Study uncovers unusual sex chromosomes of Australian iconic animals

The sex chromosomes genetically define the developmental fate of an embryo to become a male or a female individual, and usually, appear as one pair of morphologically different chromosomes between sexes.

8 Jan 2021

High-speed atomic force microscopy sheds light on structure, dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins

Kanazawa University’s pioneering high-speed atomic force microscope technology has now shed light on the structure and dynamics of some of life’s most ubiquitous and inscrutable molecules – intrinsically disordered proteins.

29 Dec 2020

Researchers discover protein crucial for growing life-saving blood stem cells

A group of scientists from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona and Columbia University in New York City has discovered a protein that is crucial for expanding the usually scarce, life-saving blood stem cells.

11 Dec 2020

New model helps assess the effect of epigenetic changes on gene expression

Researchers have developed a mathematical model to quantitatively assess the impacts of particular epigenetic changes on the transcription rates.

11 Dec 2020

Repair proteins can help healthy cells to avoid damage during cancer therapy

A key way radiation therapy and chemotherapy work is by making highly lethal double-strand breaks in the DNA of cancer cells.

10 Dec 2020

Research reveals fundamental insights into the causes of severe birth defects

Research by Kai Jiao, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in Germany has yielded fundamental insights into the causes of severe birth defects known as CHARGE syndrome cases. These congenital birth defects include severe and life-threatening heart malformations.

3 Dec 2020

Using 3D mapping techniques to unravel mystery of blood stem cells

Princess Margaret scientists have revealed how stem cells are able to generate new blood cells throughout our life by looking at vast, uncharted regions of our genetic material that hold important clues to subtle biological changes in these cells.

26 Nov 2020

Scientists discover new functions of key cellular machine involved in human cancers

Utah scientists have discovered new functions of a key cellular machine that regulates gene packaging and is mutated in 20% of human cancers. The study was published in print today in the journal Molecular Cell.

20 Nov 2020

Study provides new insights into molecular mechanisms of adipogenesis

The impairment of adipogenesis, the process in which fat cells (also known as adipocytes) accumulate to become fat tissue, can lead to many diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and heart conditions.

15 Oct 2020

DNA structural changes play key role in the recovery phase after DNA damage

A research team from Cologne has discovered that a change in the DNA structure - more precisely in the chromatin - plays a decisive role in the recovery phase after DNA damage. The key is a double occupation by two methyl groups on the DNA packaging protein histone H3 (H3K4me2).

15 Oct 2020