Life Sciences and Chemistry

Although sweet, bitter and umami (monosodium glutamate) tastes are different, researchers are finding that information about each of these tastes is transmitted from the various taste receptors via a common intracellular signaling pathway.

The identification of a common pathway runs counter to widespread belief among some researchers in the taste field who have long held the view that the different tastes require distinct machinery within the cell to transduce their signals to the brain, wh

New technique tracks RNAs associated with the protein responsible for Fragile X

The process of turning genes into protein makes the insides of cells terribly crowded and complicated places. Signals tell machinery to transcribe the DNA of genes into messenger RNA (mRNA) whose translation into protein has to be coordinated with everything else that is happening within the cell. Fortunately, there are RNA binding proteins to organize mRNAs. These proteins are so critical that the loss of

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have identified an over-active gene and the molecular events it triggers to cause acquired cases of pulmonary hypertension, a form of high blood pressure in the lungs that kills about one percent of the population each year.

The findings, published in the February 6, 2003 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, offer the first specific molecular targets for development of new therapies.

“Although

’We consider these cells conditionally alive’, explains Professor Vladimir Repin, leader of the research team, ’because they were fixed in formalin to preserve after extracting them from the mammoth body in the field. However, the inner structure of these cells is undamaged, so we suggest that the rest frozen tissues contain similar cell layers, which could be defrozen’. The sensational finding was made by Oleg Taranov, a member of the research team.

The story is as follows. Last su

Scientists at the John Innes Centre (JIC), Norwich have discovered the gene that gives freshly turned soil its distinctive smell. A smell, it is believed, that enables camels to find water in the desert. The ‘earthy’ smell is caused by geosmin, a chemical produced by a common bacterium, Streptomyces coelicolor, that is found in most soils. The discovery of the gene that produces geosmin is reported in the International science journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

Stanford University Medical Center researchers have found that a recently discovered gene regulates HDL (high density lipoproteins) cholesterol, also known as “good” cholesterol. The study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could lead to new therapies for heart disease, said lead author Thomas Quertermous, MD.

“This is a significant and unexpected finding, and the gene is going to be a real target for the prevention and treatment of heart disease,” sai