It's well known that the protein calmodulin specifically targets and steers the activities of hundreds of other proteins - mostly kinases - in our cells, thus playing a role in physiologically important processes ranging from gene transcription to nerve growth and muscle contraction But just how it distinguishes between target proteins is not well understood. Methods developed by biophysicists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM, Germany) have enabled them to manipulate and observe calmodulin in action, on the single-molecule scale.

Research into how carbohydrates are converted into energy has led to a surprising discovery with implications for the treatment of a perplexing and potentially fatal neuromuscular disorder and possibly even cancer and heart disease.

A seaweed considered a threat to the healthy growth of coral reefs in Hawaii may possess the ability to produce substances that could one day treat human diseases, a new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has revealed.

Numerous biological processes depend on molecules called lariat RNAs (LaRNAs). These lasso-shaped structures form in the cell during RNA splicing. During this process, transcribed RNA strands convert to messenger RNA before undergoing translation into proteins. A way to quickly and efficiently characterize these molecules in living cells is now available, ...

Natural substances such as chlorophyll and the heme pigment of red blood cells contain colorful molecules known as porphyrins. They owe their exceptional visual characteristics to a ‘macrocyclic’ chemical structure that links several small rings together into a highly conjugated, aromatic framework. However, chemists who have synthesized porphyrin derivatives have ...

(Phys.org) -- What’s the best way to make methanol? The question is more pressing than it sounds. Not only is methanol an important industrial chemical – some 50 million tons are used each year to make plastics and other products – but it could also become the basis of a ...

(Phys.org) -- The current method of removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) from the flues of coal-fired power plants uses so much energy that no one bothers to use it. So says Roger Aines, principal investigator for a team that has developed an entirely new catalyst for separating out ...

Scientists are reporting development of a new, higher-yield, two-step, less costly process that may ease supply problems and zigzagging prices for the raw material essential for making the mainstay drug for malaria. That disease sickens 300-500 million people annually and kills more than 1 million. The report on the process, ...