Category Health/Medical

Creation of a Synthetic Ligand for Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Recognition and Promoter-Specific Transcription Suppression

For the first time, a synthetic compound has been made that can bind to DNA in the cells’ energy powerhouses, suppressing a gene associated with nerve and muscle disease. Pyrrole-imidazole polyamides (PIPs) are compounds that can read specific DNA sequences inside living cells and silence disease-causing genes. They prevent transcription factors, from binding to specific parts of the DNA strand, thus suppressing the transcription of DNA into RNA.

Most DNA is found in the nucleus. But mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses, also host a small amount of DNA. PIPs can cross the nuclear membrane to bind to nuclear DNA, but are incapable of crossing the mitochondrial membrane...

First evidence that a beneficial gut bacterium can grow when fed a carbohydrate in cranberries. Many scientists are paying new attention to prebiotics, that is, molecules we eat but cannot digest, because some may promote the growth and health of beneficial microorganisms in our intestines, says nutritional microbiologist David Sela at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In a new study, he and colleagues report the first evidence that certain beneficial gut bacteria are able to grow when fed a carbohydrate found in cranberries and further, that they exhibit a special nontypical metabolism.

Findings could add value to future food products or lead to a new supplement based on the cranberry, of which Massachusetts is a major producer.

What we eat not only nourishes us but also feeds the...

Expression of the Human Herpesvirus 6A Latency-Associated Transcript U94A Disrupts Human Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Migration. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-04432-y

The ubiquitous human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) may play a critical role in impeding the brain’s ability to repair itself in diseases like multiple sclerosis. It may help explain the differences in severity in symptoms that many people with the disease experience. “While latent HHV-6 – which can be found in cells throughout the brain – has been associated with demyelinating disorders like multiple sclerosis it has not been clear what role, if any, it plays in these diseases,” said Margot Mayer-Proschel, Ph.D...

Kelly Huffman: Charles W. Abbott et al. Prenatal Ethanol Exposure and Neocortical Development: A Transgenerational Model of FASD, Cerebral Cortex (2017). DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx168

Soon-to-be mothers have heard the warning – don’t drink while pregnant. CDC has issued numerous statements about the dangers of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, as it can lead to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) in newborns. Despite this, many women drink during pregnancy, a choice that scientists have known for years could hurt these mothers’ children. Today, there is a new reason to stop – drinking alcohol during pregnancy will not only affect her unborn child, but may also impact brain development and lead to adverse outcomes in her future grand- and even great-grandchildren.

“Traditionally, p...