Microbiology – Page 116

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Nature Cover Exploits Intelligent Design While Inside Attacks It

November 24, 2005

The 11/24 issue of Nature included two very caustic letters attacking intelligent design, yet its cover story highlighted the promising new field of Synthetic Biology. In one of the leading papers,1 David Sprinzak and Michael B. Elowiz of Caltech (see 06/25/2005 entry) described the synthetic approach in terms reminiscent of William Paley’s old Divine Watchmaker: […]

Genetics

Does Gene Expression Evolve?

November 17, 2005

“Mutation is the ultimate source of biological diversity because it generates the variation that fuels evolution,” wrote four scientists in Nature November 10.1 Conventionally, theorists have focused on gene mutations for that fuel; what about mutations to gene expression? That’s what they set out to discover. One would think that positive natural selection […]

Birds

March of the Little Penguins Down Darwin Lane?

November 10, 2005

Penguins are on people’s minds since the movie, but there are other species of the handsome-yet-funny waddlers besides the reigning emperors. The news media are saying one species demonstrates evolution – another word on the public mind these days. MSNBC News talked about “Penguin evolution,” and Science Now proclaimed “Evolution on Ice.” Actually, it’s only […]

Genetics

Genome Complexity No Measure of Evolution

November 7, 2005

Do genes show an increasing pattern of complexity from lower to higher organisms? Not necessarily, reported Elizabeth Pennisi in Science Now. Cnidarians, including sea anemones and corals, for example, show almost as much complexity in their genomes as humans, whereas fruit flies and worms, seemingly more complex than cnidarians (06/25/2005, 2nd par.) appear to have […]

Biomimetics

Living Wonders at a Glance

November 4, 2005

Here is an assortment of recently-reported biological marvels at the cellular level. Researchers into creation and evolution explanations may wish to delve into these more deeply. Clock Conductor: The brain is a “time machine,” reports EurekAlert on research at Duke University about the human biological clock. Each structure in the brain has a resonant frequency […]

Cell Biology

Bacterial Flagellum Visualized

November 2, 2005

Tom Magnuson at Access Research Network found this link that came out last year but is too good to pass up: another visualization of the bacterial flagellum, the “poster child of the ID movement,” by Japanese researchers on NanoNet, the Nanotechnology Researchers Network Center of Japan. The 02/05/2004 NanoNet Bulletin features the bacterial flagellum with […]

Cell Biology

Red Blood Cells Are Master Contortionists

October 28, 2005

Biophysicists have analyzed why red blood cells are able to squeeze through tight spaces on their journeys through our tissues, reports the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering. Their membranes contain a network of 33,000 hexagons arranged in a complex geodesic dome formation. Each hexagon vertex is joined with flexible lines to a central maypole-like proto-filament, […]

Dumb Ideas

Listen to Yourself Evolve

October 23, 2005

A pretty gene is like a melody, decided Mary Anne Clark at Texas Wesleyan University, so she gave life to music—literally. She translated the structure of proteins into musical notes so that she could hear “protein songs,” reported National Geographic News. By listening to the songs, scientists and students alike can hear the structure of […]

Cell Biology

Stem Cell Breakthroughs: No More Ethical Concerns?

October 19, 2005

Several science news sites have been reporting two new techniques for creating embryonic stem cells that do not involve the creation of viable embryos (see, for instance, New Scientist, Science Now, and Nature news, 437, 1065 (20 October 2005) | doi: 10.1038/4371065a). There is no consensus yet, however, whether these methods overcome all […]

Cell Biology

Molecular Machine Updates

October 11, 2005

Scientists continue to make headway understanding the detailed workings of molecular motors. The two most famous rotary motors yielded additional secrets recently: ATP Synthase: “Making ATP” was the short title of a paper in PNAS this week.1 Xing, Liao and Oster came up with a model that linked the rotation of the gamma subunit (the […]

Cell Biology

Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week: Network Evolution Trumps ID

October 5, 2005

This entry will make more sense after reading yesterday’s story on the evolution of modular networks (10/04/2005). A reader sent in a reference to a very similar article from scientists at Johns Hopkins published in PLoS Biology.1 It must be Network Evolution Week. Before awarding the SEQOTW prize, some background is necessary. Like […]

Cell Biology

Can Networks Design Themselves?

October 4, 2005

A molecular biologist and a physicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel (see also 09/26/2003) wrote a paper in PNAS1 with an intriguing title: “Spontaneous evolution of modularity and network motifs.” Can a network arise spontaneously? Biologists increasingly speak of the interaction of genes, proteins and metabolic processes in terms of […]

Amazing Facts

Muscle Motor Observed in Action

October 3, 2005

Myosin proteins have been heavily studied in recent years since they are critical to many cellular and tissue functions, including muscle. According to EurekAlert Scientists from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of Vermont have captured the first 3-dimensional (3D) atomic-resolution images of the motor protein myosin V as it “walks” along […]

Genetics

Alternative Gene Splicing May Be Common

September 23, 2005

Scientists at MIT publishing in PNAS1 detected instances of alternative splicing in over 1,000 genes of stem cells. They also computed possible isoforms of mRNA transcriptions and found 80% of them in the cells. Not only that, the isoforms (alternatively spliced versions of exons from the same gene) appeared to be functional: “We find that […]

Cell Biology

Cell Has Automatic Jam-Clearing Proofreading Machinery

September 19, 2005

Findings at Rockefeller University have scientists excited. DNA copying machines work on a “sliding clamp” that can hold two repair machines at the same time. One is a low-fidelity repair tool, the other a high-fidelity repair tool. Usually, the high-fidelity one is active, but when it needs a bigger hammer that is perhaps more effective […]

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