Category Biology/Biotechnology

Altered Extracellular Model. Biomolecular model based on the gene expression data analyses support the reduction of glucose molecules (blue gradient) and acid buildup (gold gradient) proposed to occur in the boundary layer around the cell. This altered extracellular environment has been hypothesized to result as an effect of reduced gravity-driven forces acting on the cell-fluid system and has been put forth as the biophysical mechanism governing bacterial behavior in space. Blue circles indicate overexpression of genes associated with metabolism, while gold circles represent the overexpression of acidic condition genes. Credit: Zea et al (2016)

Gene expression data suggest bacteria experience reduced glucose uptake and increased extracellular acidity in E. coli in space...

Highlights •Galectin-3 blood levels are elevated in human and rodent obesity •Galectin-3 directly impairs insulin action in myocytes, adipocytes, and hepatocytes •Galectin-3 treatment causes systemic insulin resistance in vivo •Galectin-3 loss of function improves insulin sensitivity in obesity

By removing the protein galectin-3 (Gal3), a team of investigators led by University of California School of Medicine researchers were able to reverse diabetic insulin resistance and glucose intolerance in mouse models of obesity and diabetes. By binding to insulin receptors on cells, Gal3 prevents insulin from attaching to the receptors resulting in cellular insulin resistance...

Genetic damage caused by smoking measured in different organs of the body

Genetic damage caused by smoking measured in different organs of the body. Scientists have measured the catastrophic genetic damage caused by smoking in different organs of the body and identified several different mechanisms by which tobacco smoking causes mutations in DNA. Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and their collaborators found smokers accumulated an average of 150 extra mutations in every lung cell for each year of smoking one packet of cigarettes a day. The study provides a direct link between the number of cigarettes smoked in a lifetime and the number of mutations in the tumour DNA...