EMBL EMI Interpro InterPro: protein sequence analysis & classification InterPro provides functional analysis of proteins by classifying them into families and predicting domains and important sites. We combine protein signatures from a number of member databases into a single searchable resource, capitalising on their individual strengths to produce a powerful integrated database and diagnostic tool. Read more about InterPro Documentation About InterPro: core concepts, update frequency, how to cite, team and consortium members. FAQs: what are entry types and why are they important, interpreting results, downloading InterPro? Web services documentation Protein focus The sweetest thing Our sugar consumption has reached to such a level that it carries health risks such as obesity, diabetes. Publications The InterPro protein families database: the classification resource after 15 years Our latest paper describing new developments on the InterPro website (Nucleic Acids Research, Jan 2015). Tools InterProScan Blog
Critical stage of embryonic development now observable A novel approach in the study of the development of mammalian embryos was reported on February 14 in the journal Nature Communications. The research, from the laboratory of Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of the University of Cambridge, enables scientists to view critical aspects of embryonic development which was previously unobservable. For several decades it has been possible to culture embryos from a single cell, the fertilised egg, to the blastocyst, a ball of some 64 cells all derived from the first by repeated rounds of cell division. In practical terms this has allowed the development of the in vitro fertilisation techniques that are used world-wide to assist fertility. It has also enabled scientists to learn much about these early stages of development during which cells take the very first decisions about their future. By contrast, scientists' knowledge of subsequent events has been extremely restricted.
Protein Data Bank A Structural View of Biology This resource is powered by the Protein Data Bank archive-information about the 3D shapes of proteins, nucleic acids, and complex assemblies that helps students and researchers understand all aspects of biomedicine and agriculture, from protein synthesis to health and disease. As a member of the wwPDB, the RCSB PDB curates and annotates PDB data. The RCSB PDB builds upon the data by creating tools and resources for research and education in molecular biology, structural biology, computational biology, and beyond. Use this website to access curated and integrated biological macromolecular information in the context of function, biological processes, evolution, pathways, and disease states. A Molecular View of HIV Therapy January Molecule of the Month Nuclear Pore Complex Deposition Preparation Tools Data Extraction Small Molecules Ligand Expo: Search the Chemical Component Dictionary for the IDs of released ligands Data Format Conversion 3D Structure Viewers
Discovery Health &Can humans regrow fingers?& When a hobby-store owner in Cincinnati sliced off his fingertip in 2005 while showing a customer why the motor on his model plane was dangerous, he went to the emergency room without the missing tip. He couldn't find it anywhere. The doctor bandaged the wound and recommended a skin graft to cover the top of his right-middle stub for cosmetic purposes, since nothing could be done to rebuild the finger. Months later, he had regrown it, tissue, nerves, skin, fingernail and all. This particular hobbyist happened to have a brother in the tissue-regeneration business, who told him to forego the skin graft and instead apply a powdered extract taken from pig's bladder to the raw finger tip. Extracellular matrix is a component of body tissue that functions outside of the body's cells (thus the "extracellular" designation). In human fetuses, the substance works in concert with stem cells to grow and regrow everything from heart aortas to toes.
Socotra Socotra (Arabic: سُقُطْرَى Suquṭra), also spelled Soqotra, is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago. It lies some 240 kilometres (150 mi) east of the Horn of Africa and 380 kilometres (240 mi) south of the Arabian Peninsula.[2] The island is very isolated and a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. It has been described as "the most alien-looking place on Earth". The island measures 132 kilometres (82 mi) in length and 49.7 kilometres (30.9 mi) in width.[3] Socotra is part of Yemen. Etymology[edit] In the notes to his translation of the Periplus, G.W.B. History[edit] Map of the Socotra archipelago There was initially an Oldoway (or Oldowan) culture in Socotra. Socotra appears as Dioskouridou ("of Dioscurides") in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a 1st-century AD Greek navigation aid. The islands passed under the control of the Mahra sultans in 1511.
Multicellular Life Arises In A Test Tube NORMAN, Okla. — Since humanity missed the big moment the first time around, biologists trying to understand the origins of complex life have coaxed single-celled microbes to evolve into multicellular forms capable of reproduction. Common lab yeast normally live as single cells that bud off single-celled offspring. But challenging generations of yeast with conditions that make solo life tough led to spiky multicelled yeast forms within about two months, said Will Ratcliff of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The experiment suggests going multicellular may happen more readily than previously thought, he told the Evolution 2011 conference June 18. “It was certainly the buzz of the conference,” said Lee Dugatkin of the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Evolutionary biologists rank the shift from one to many cells as one of the major transitions in the history of life. Dugatkin doesn’t find that a drawback, however.
FlyBase logy Magazine The major difference between plant and animal cells is the photosynthetic process, which converts light energy into chemical energy. When light isn't available, energy is generated by breaking down carbohydrates and sugars, just as it is in animal and some bacterial cells. Two cellular organelles are responsible for these two processes: the chloroplasts for photosynthesis and the mitochondria for sugar breakdown. New research from Carnegie's Eva Nowack and Arthur Grossman has opened a window into the early stages of chloroplast evolution. It is widely accepted that chloroplasts originated from photosynthetic, single-celled bacteria called cyanobacteria, which were engulfed by a more complex, non-photosynthetic cell more than 1.5 billion years ago. A similar process resulted in the creation of mitochondria. To sustain the function of the organelle, proteins encoded by the transferred genes are synthesized in the cytoplasm, or cell's interior, and then imported back into the organelle.
WormBase Bacteria use chat to play the prisoners dilemma game in deciding their fate When faced with life-or-death situations, bacteria -- and maybe even human cells -- use an extremely sophisticated version of "game theory" to consider their options and decide upon the best course of action, scientists reported in San Diego March 27. In a presentation at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), they said microbes "play" a version of the classic "Prisoner's Dilemma" game. José Onuchic, Ph.D., who headed the research team, said these and other new insights into the "chat" sessions that bacteria use to communicate among themselves -- information about cell stress, the colony density (quorum-sensing peptides) and the stress status and inclinations of neighboring cells (peptide pheromones) -- could have far-reaching medical applications. "Using this form of cell-to-cell communication, colonies of billions or trillions of bacteria can literally reach a consensus on actions that impact people," Onuchic explained.
wFleaBase Sleeper cells: How to fight bacteria that play dead - 28 March 2012 - New Scientist - StumbleUpon Editorial: "Antibiotics are wonder drugs no more" TAKE a lawnmower to a field of grass and, with the blades on the right setting, you can raze it to the ground. It might look brutal, but all you are removing is the leaves. It now looks as if bacteria have a similar trick up their sleeve. The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center Exploiting the smell of genetically modified fear - StumbleUpon 29 March 2012Last updated at 11:06 GMT Biotechnology is back on the political agenda today with the launch of a field trial designed to assess a new variety of aphid repelling GM wheat. Scientists have used genetic engineering to add a peppermint plant gene to wheat that expresses an alarm pheromone that aphids associate with danger. It's the same smell that aphids themselves produce when they're under attack from a predator - warning other bugs to keep clear. And in one of those twists so often found in nature, the odour also attracts the aphids' natural predators - parasitic wasps and labybirds - resulting in a double whammy of fewer pests and more predators homing in on the crop. Aphids are a major pest problem for cereal crops across northern Europe, causing £80m to £120m worth of losses to UK farmers every year. "It's a very clever combination of biotechnology, chemistry and natural ecology" according to Professor Maurice Maloney the Director of Rothamsted Research.