Collaborative work of research groups at the University of Würzburg and the TU Dresden has provided important new insights for cancer research. During cell division specific target proteins have to be turned over in a precisely regulated manner. To this end specialized enzymes label the target proteins with signaling molecules. However, the enzymes involved in this process can also label themselves, thus initiating their own degradation. In a multidisciplinary approach, the researchers identified a mechanism of how enzymes can protect themselves from such self-destruction and maintain sufficient concentrations in the cell. These results have been published in the journal Science Signaling.
Working together with researchers from the University of Tübingen, the University of Tromsø, the UC Davis and the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, biologists from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have discovered how tomato plants identify Cuscuta as a parasite. The plant has a protein in its cell walls that is identified as 'foreign' by a receptor in the tomato. Their findings have now been published in the renowned journal Nature Communications.
A research group from Würzburg has now been able to clarify the long-standing question of how the protein complex CDK-activating kinase (CAK), which controls the central processes of cell division and transcription, is activated. The group analyzed the active form of the protein/CAK complex and was able to decipher its function on a molecular level. These new findings provide the basis for further research on cancer drugs and were published in the renowned scientific journal PNAS.
The most important pathogenicity factors of the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori are centrally regulated by a small RNA molecule, NikS. And this was not the only surprise that NikS provided.
Researchers of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have cultured so-called intestinal organoids from human intestinal tissue, which is a common byproduct when performing bowel surgery. These small “miniature intestines” can be used for molecular biological examinations and allow for a direct application of research results to humans, thereby making animal experiments redundant.
Modern hydroelectric power plants do not always protect fish better than conventional ones. In addition to the technologies employed, the specific location of the plant and the fish species being present at that location also play a role in fish protection. A research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has systematically studied how different types of power plants affect various fish species and their habitats. Detailed findings can improve future planning as well as retrofitting of existing plants.
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