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UNC Charlotte Study: SARS-CoV-2 Variants BA.2.86 and JN.1 Show Minimal Immune Evasion

New research from UNC Charlotte's Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) has found that the two recent and prevalent strains of the virus that cause COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 variants BA.2.86 and JN.1, are not significantly better than their predecessor Omicron at evading immune responses and causing infections despite having a high number of mutations compared to Omicron.

22 Jul 2024

Vps21 Pathway's Role in Morphological Transitions and Mating of Candida albicans

This study was led by Dr. Guanghua Huang (School of Life Sciences, Fudan University). The team discovered that the conserved Vps21 signaling pathway plays critical roles in the regulation of white-opaque switching and mating in Candida albicans, a major human fungal pathogen.

18 Jul 2024

Harnessing Enzymes for Making RNA Therapeutics

While the COVID-19 vaccines introduced many people to RNA-based medicines, RNA oligonucleotides have already been on the market for years to treat diseases like Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and amyloidosis.

15 Jul 2024

New Insights into How Cells Fine-Tune Protein Assembly

Imagine the body as a bustling factory constantly assembling proteins, the building blocks that keep everything running smoothly.

26 Jun 2024

Scientists Identify Gene Region that Fuels Asthma Inflammation

Pollen and house dust mites are two common allergens that cause respiratory distress in asthma patients. But type-2 helper T (Th2) cells and group-2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) release a class of proteins known as type-2 cytokines in response to a variety of asthma triggers. GATA-binding protein 3 (GATA3) is essential for the maturation of Th2 and ILC2.

25 Jun 2024

Breakthrough: Plants Used to Produce Health-Boosting Human Milk Oligosaccharides

A plant-based HMO production platform that utilizes the carbohydrate anabolic ability of plants.

18 Jun 2024

St. Jude Researchers Discover NLRC5's Role in Inflammatory Cell Death

The innate immune system is responsible for protecting the human body from threats that could cause disease or infection.

17 Jun 2024

Mitochondria Influence the Ability of Adult Cardiac Cells to Multiply

Whether forcing adult cardiomyocytes to reverse from the oxidative phosphorylation phenotype to the glycolysis phenotype would also restore their mitotic ability.

13 Jun 2024

Unmasking XPD’s Mechanism in DNA Damage Detection and Repair

The way the protein XPD recognizes severe DNA damage and regulates its repair was uncovered by researchers at the University of Würzburg, under the direction of Caroline Kisker and Claudia Höbartner.

29 May 2024

Deciphering the Genetic Basis of Bayberry Fruit Quality

The Chinese bayberry, Myrica rubra, is a subtropical fruit highly valued for its distinctive flavor, nutritional benefits, and economic importance.

28 May 2024

Multiplexed Orthogonal Base Editors for Precise Mutation Modeling

The human genome consists of around 3 billion base pairs and humans are all 99.6% identical in their genetic makeup.

23 May 2024

Viruses Offer Efficient Delivery for Precise Plant Breeding

The application of genome editing in plant molecular breeding is hampered by the lack of straightforward and efficient methods for introducing genome editing reagents into plants, despite the technology's great potential.

20 May 2024

AI Models Predict Plant Gene Activity with Unprecedented Precision

Genome sequencing technology provides thousands of new plant genomes annually. In agriculture, researchers merge this genomic information with observational data (measuring various plant traits) to identify correlations between genetic variants and crop traits like seed count, resistance to fungal infections, fruit color, or flavor.

30 Apr 2024

Study Reveals Molecular Assembly of One of the Most Common Anti-Phage Systems

One of the many secrets to bacteria's success is their ability to defend themselves from viruses, called phages, that infect bacteria and use their cellular machinery to make copies of themselves.

29 Apr 2024

UCI Researchers Receive $1.19 Million Grant to Unravel the Genetic Basis of Nicotine Addiction

A three-year, $1.19 million grant from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program will allow University of California, Irvine researchers to explore how specific sections of DNA might influence nicotine addiction.

26 Apr 2024

The Genetic Secret Behind Human Skull Morphology

Researchers at the Universities of Helsinki, Barcelona, and Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) have discovered a single nucleotide alteration that is crucial to the evolution of human skull morphology and influences the expression of the TBX1 gene and the formation of the skull base.

18 Apr 2024

Deciphering the Significance of m6A RNA Modification in HIV-1 Genome

A chemical modification in the HIV-1 RNA genome whose function has been a matter of scientific debate is now confirmed to be key to the virus's ability to survive and thrive after infecting host cells, a new study has found.

13 Apr 2024

Study Reveals Structure of Two Nucleic Acid-Degrading Enzymes

When nucleic acids like DNA or RNA build up in a cell's cytoplasm, it sets off an alarm call for the immune system.

3 Apr 2024

Microsatellites' Stability Through Deep Time: Insights from Adélie Penguin Genomes

Microsatellites are valuable tools for studying inheritance, genetic diversity, and population dynamics across a wide range of organisms including bacteria, plants, animals, and fungi. These

2 Apr 2024

Development of a Rapid miRNA Detection Method Based on Rolling Circle Amplification

This study is led by Professor Jue Ruan (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, China). The authors developed a one-pot isothermal detection method based on rolling circle amplification (RCA) for rapid and specific detection of miRNAs and short RNA fragments.

30 Mar 2024