Category Biology/Biotechnology

Cat hair could be the purr-fect way to catch criminals, according to researchers from the University of Leicester. They have shown that a single cat hair contains DNA which could link a suspect and a crime-scene, or a victim.

Around 26 per cent of UK householders own a cat and with the average feline shedding thousands of hairs annually, it’s inevitable that once you leave, you’ll bear evidence of the furry resident. This is potentially useful in the forensic investigation of criminal activity.

While a human perpetrator may take pains not to leave their own DNA behind, transferred cat hair contains its own DNA that could provide a link between a suspect and a crime-scene, or a victim.

In a paper published in the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics earlier this mo...

Researchers have uncovered that proteins use a common chemical label as a shield to protect them from degradation, which in turn affects motility and aging. Proteins are key to all processes in our cells and understanding their functions and regulation is of major importance.

“For many years, we have known that nearly all human proteins are modified by a specific chemical group, but its functional impact has remained undefined,” says professor Thomas Arnesen at the Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen.

He explains:

“One of the most common protein modifications in human cells is N-terminal acetylation, which is an addition of a small chemical group (acetyl) at the starting tip (N-terminus) of a protein...

A study spearheaded by Oregon State University has shown why certain polyunsaturated fatty acids work to combat a dangerous liver condition, opening a new avenue of drug research for a disease that currently has no FDA-approved medications.

Scientists led by Oregon State’s Natalia Shulzhenko, Andrey Morgun and Donald Jump used a technique known as multi-omic network analysis to identify the mechanism through which dietary omega 3 supplements alleviated nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, usually abbreviated to NASH.

The mechanism involves betacellulin, a protein growth factor that plays multiple positive roles in the body but also contributes to liver fibrosis, or scarring, and the progression to cirrhosis and liver cancer.

“We only succeeded in ...

Broccoli sprouts have been discovered to contain 7X more polysulfides than mature broccoli. A research team from Osaka Metropolitan University has found that polysulfides are abundant in broccoli sprouts. They found that the amount of polysulfides increased dramatically during growth, by an approximately 20-fold in seeds by the fifth day of germination. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis of the polysulfides detected a number of polysulfide candidates whose structures have not yet been determined. The identification of these unknown polysulfides and detailed analysis of their pharmacological activities are expected to enable the development of new preventive and therapeutic strategies and medicines for cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, inflammation, and other diseases.