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    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    Sweet Discovery in Leafy Greens holds Key to Gut Health

    February 15, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    sulfoquinovose (SQ)

    sulfoquinovose (SQ)

    A critical discovery about how bacteria feed on an unusual sugar molecule found in leafy green vegetables could hold the key to explaining how ‘good’ bacteria protect our gut and promote health. Leafy greens are essential for feeding good gut bacteria, limiting the ability of bad bacteria to colonise the gut by shutting them out of the prime ‘real estate’.

    Researchers identified a previously unknown enzyme used by bacteria, fungi and other organisms to feed on the unusual but abundant sugar sulfoquinovose (SQ) found in green vegetables. Each year, leafy green vegetables eg, spinach – produce the sugar on an enormous scale globally. The discovery could be exploited to cultivate the growth of ‘good’ gut bacteria...

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    Researchers identify ‘Neurostatin’ that may Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer’s disease

    February 14, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Schematic illustration of the drug discovery strategy described in this work. The strategy consists of four steps: (1) A fragment-based approach that allows the identification of small molecules that interact with the aggregation-prone system, here Aβ42, including FDA-approved molecules for drug repurposing. (2) An in vitro kinetic analysis that identifies the specific molecular steps in the Aβ42 aggregation mechanism responsible for the generation of toxic species. (3) A further kinetic analysis to determine the mechanism of inhibition associated with the molecules identified in step 1. (4) An evaluation of the effects of these molecules on the formation of toxic species in vivo. In particular, the inhibition of primary nucleation is predicted to delay the aggregation without affecting the total number of oligomers generated by the aggregation process, whereas inhibiting elongation or secondary nucleation is predicted either to increase or to decrease the number of toxic oligomers, respectively (see text).

    Schematic illustration of the drug discovery strategy described in this work. The strategy consists of four steps: (1) A fragment-based approach that allows the identification of small molecules that interact with the aggregation-prone system, here Aβ42, including FDA-approved molecules for drug repurposing. (2) An in vitro kinetic analysis that identifies the specific molecular steps in the Aβ42 aggregation mechanism responsible for the generation of toxic species. (3) A further kinetic analysis to determine the mechanism of inhibition associated with the molecules identified in step 1. (4) An evaluation of the effects of these molecules on the formation of toxic species in vivo...

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    Gene Switch may Repair DNA and Prevent Cancer

    February 13, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Highlights •5hmC is actively enriched at endogenous DNA damage sites in cancer cell lines •DNA damage induced by aphidicolin or microirradiation increases 5hmC locally •TET2 is required to create damage-associated 5hmC foci in HeLa cells •TET enzymes promote genome integrity under replication stress in mouse ES cells

    Highlights •5hmC is actively enriched at endogenous DNA damage sites in cancer cell lines •DNA damage induced by aphidicolin or microirradiation increases 5hmC locally •TET2 is required to create damage-associated 5hmC foci in HeLa cells •TET enzymes promote genome integrity under replication stress in mouse ES cells

    A team of scientists in Japan has found a DNA modification called 5hmC thought to be involved in turning genes on and off – localizes at sites of DNA damage and repair. They also found that a family of recently discovered enzymes, TETs for short, is important in maintaining 5hmC’s reparative role.

    To turn genes on or off, a methyl group can be added to or removed from DNA. During demethylation, the methyl group is converted to 5hmC as an intermediate step...

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    Gene Signature could lead to a new way of diagnosing Lyme Disease

    February 12, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Longitudinal differential gene expression and pathway analysis of Lyme disease. (A) Bar chart of the numbers of genes found to be upregulated or downregulated at Lyme disease diagnosis (V1), 3 weeks post-treatment (V2, after a standard course of antibiotics), and 6 months post-treatment (V5). (B) Venn diagram representing the number of DEGs between Lyme disease patients and controls at three time points. (C) Principal component analysis (PCA) of Lyme disease patients and controls at three time points on the basis of 1,759 unique DEGs identified at V1, V2, and V5. The asterisk represents a subject in the control group who looks like an outlier in the PCA plot but is not shown to be an outlier by PCA analysis of the control samples (see Fig. S2 in the supplemental material). Note that the PC3 axis in the PCA plot accounts for only 8% of the variance in the data set. (D to F) Top 10 disease and functional categories (D), top 10 canonical pathways (E), and top 10 upstream regulators (excluding drug categories) (F) predicted to be involved in Lyme disease at (V1, V2, and V5) with categories, pathways, and genes ranked by the negative log of the P value of the enrichment score. The color scheme is based on Z scores, with activation in orange, inhibition in blue, and undetermined directionality in gray. The red line represents the designated significance threshold (P < 0.05).

    Longitudinal differential gene expression and pathway analysis of Lyme disease. (A) Bar chart of the numbers of genes found to be upregulated or downregulated at Lyme disease diagnosis (V1), 3 weeks post-treatment (V2, after a standard course of antibiotics), and 6 months post-treatment (V5). (B) Venn diagram representing the number of DEGs between Lyme disease patients and controls at three time points. (C) Principal component analysis (PCA) of Lyme disease patients and controls at three time points on the basis of 1,759 unique DEGs identified at V1, V2, and V5. The asterisk represents a subject in the control group who looks like an outlier in the PCA plot but is not shown to be an outlier by PCA analysis of the control samples (see Fig. S2 in the supplemental material)...

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