Latest DNA replication Stories
Telomerase is an enzyme that maintains the DNA at the ends of our chromosomes, known as telomeres. In the absence of telomerase activity, every time our cells divide, our telomeres get shorter. This is part of the natural aging process, as most cells in the human body do not have much active telomerase. Eventually, these DNA-containing telomeres, which act as protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, become so short that the cells die.But in some cells, such as cancer cells, telomerase,...
Accurate duplication of genetic material and the faithful segregation of chromosomes are critical for cell survival. The initiation of DNA replication is linked both to cell cycle progression and chromatin organization. In plants, animals and other "eukaryotes," the assembly of a multi-protein complex called pre-replicative complex (preRC) is the first step in the initiation of DNA replication. As the name implies, origin recognition complex (ORC) proteins bind to origins of DNA...
Not only do undergraduate students gain valuable hands-on experience by participating in scientific research projects, but they also make meaningful contributions, examples of which are highlighted in the current special issue of DNA and Cell Biology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The issue is available free online.This special issue features a collection of papers reporting on successful research projects in which undergraduate students played a significant...
PALM SPRINGS, Calif., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientists at Elan Vital Pharmaceuticals announce anti-aging technology applications to a new product, De-Nouveau. De-Nouveau utilizes the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the enzyme telomerase to change the anti-aging product market. Telomerase allows cellular DNA to recombine the same way a young person's DNA does. De-Nouveau by Elan Vital re-introduces the telomerase enzyme into the body to dramatically slow down the signs of aging....
Tufts biologists' findings have potential to advance development of new cancer drugsTufts University researchers in the School of Arts and Sciences have pinpointed a key cellular protein that repairs damaged DNA molecules but may also promote the development of cancer.Assistant Professor of Biology Mitch McVey and his research team report that DNA polymerase theta, or PolQ, promotes an inaccurate repair process, which can ultimately cause mutations, cell death or cancer. The research is...
SAN DIEGO, June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Institutes of Health recently awarded TriLink BioTechnologies, Inc. (TriLink) a Phase II SBIR Grant of approximately $725,000 to continue their work on developing reagents to enhance the specificity of DNA ligase. In these continued studies, the utility of chemically modified components will be explored as a potential means of enhancing ligation fidelity in a variety of advanced applications that employ DNA ligase, including SNP detection,...
Finding could be basis for developing new cancer therapiesIn the dominoes that make up human cells, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have traced another step of the process that stops cells from becoming cancerous.It starts with the enzyme telomerase, which affects the caps, or telomeres, at the end of a chromosome. Telomeres shorten over time. But telomerase prevents this from happening, making the cell immortal. If cancer is triggered in the cell, the...
Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have discovered how a protein long known to be an essential activator of DNA replication actually triggers this process in cells.The protein, called DDK (for Ddf4-dependent protein kinase), is an enzyme that attaches phosphate molecules to other proteins to modify their activity. The CSHL team has found that DDK performs this operation, called phosphorylation, on a protein called Mcm4, specifically within a domain that acts as a built-in...
An experimental drug currently being tested against breast and lung cancer shows promise in fighting the brain cancer glioblastoma and prostate cancer, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in two preclinical studies.The drug's actions, observed in isolated human cells in one trial and in rodents in the other, are especially encouraging because they attacked not only the bulk of the tumor cells but also the rare cancer stem cells that are believed to be responsible for most...
MIT and Boston University researchers have discovered that the drug hydroxyurea kills bacteria by inducing them to produce molecules toxic to themselves "” a conclusion that raises the possibility of finding new antibiotics that use similar mechanisms.Hydroxyurea inhibits the enzyme critical for making the building blocks for DNA, so for decades it has been used to study the consequences of inhibiting DNA replication in E. coli, yeast and mammalian cells. It is also sometimes used in...
