News by Subject Biology

Ants are omnipresent, and we often get blisters after an ant bite. But do you know the molecular mechanism behind it? A joint research team have identified and demonstrated a novel small peptide isolated from the ant venom can initiate an immune pathway via a pseudo-allergic receptor MRGPRX2. The study has recently been published in a top journal in Allergy - The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Boosting the body's own disease-fighting immune pathway could provide answers in the desperate search for new treatments for tuberculosis. Tuberculosis still represents an enormous global disease burden and is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. The study uncovered how cells infected with tuberculosis bacteria can die, and that using new medicines to enhance particular forms of cell death decreased the severity of the disease in a preclinical model.

Photosynthesis is at the core of all life. But what lies at the crux of photosynthesis? Scientists have long known of the specific components of the cell where photosynthesis occurs, but the precise mechanisms by which these components are maintained remain unknown. Now, the possibility of unprecedented high?resolution visualization using cryoelectron microscopy has allowed a team of scientists to reveal how the structural integrity of the site of one half of the photosynthesis process is maintained.

Human Usher syndrome is the most common form of hereditary deaf-blindness. Researchers have now identified a novel pathomechanism leading to Usher syndrome. They have discovered that the Usher syndrome type 1G protein SANS plays a crucial role in regulating splicing process. Furthermore, they have been able to demonstrate that defects in the SANS protein can lead to errors in the splicing of genes related to the Usher syndrome, which may provoke the disease.

Researchers have identified a specialized protein that appears to help prevent tumor cells from entering the bloodstream and spreading to other parts of the body.

There are striking similarities in the development of two types of specialized sensory cells: the so-called 'hair cells' that receive sound vibrations in the inner ear, and the Merkel cells that sense light touch at the surface of the skin. These developmental similarities are a legacy of shared evolutionary history.

Japanese researchers discovered that lipidated Atg8, the most famous factor that mediates autophagy, has membrane perturbation activity and elucidated that this activity is responsible for efficient autophagosome formation.