PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Metabolic model of E. coli reveals how bacterial growth responds to temperature change

2013-06-07
(Press-News.org) Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a computational model of 1,366 genes in E. coli that includes 3D protein structures and has enabled them to compute the temperature sensitivity of the bacterium's proteins. The study, published June 7 in the journal Science, opens the door for engineers to create heat-tolerant microbial strains for production of commodity chemicals, therapeutic proteins and other industrial applications.

Students of microbiology learn early that bacterial growth is temperature sensitive. For most pathogens, the optimum growth temperature is approximately the same as the body temperature of humans, or 37 C, but some bacteria, called thermophiles, grow well at high temperatures. Determining what precisely causes some bacteria to be more heat sensitive than others has eluded scientists thus far.

"Evidence has accumulated over several decades that proteins are what limit the heat tolerance of cells, but pinpointing the weak points represented by specific proteins has never before been accomplished except when researchers have engineered certain proteins to be sensitive to temperature," said Roger Chang, the first author on the paper who earned his Ph.D. in bioinformatics and systems biology at UC San Diego in 2012. "Not only have we predicted some of these weak points in E. coli but we did so through an unprecedented integrative computational approach drawing from both three-dimensional protein structure analysis and genome-scale cellular network modeling."

Chang completed his Ph.D. in the Systems Biology Research Group of Professor Bernhard Palsson and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.

Chang said the predictions about thermosensitivity of specific proteins in E. coli have been overcome by nutrient supplementation experiments, as predicted by the computational model. The next step is to engineer or evolve thermostabilizing mutations in these proteins to yield genetically thermotolerant strains. The results thus far demonstrate the potential capabilities offered by the emerging field of systems biology, which leverages the power of high-performance computing and an enormous amount of available data from the life sciences to simulate biological activities.

"Broadly speaking, this study demonstrates how fundamental understanding of biology can be revealed by integrating network and structural biology at the genome-scale," said Professor Palsson. "Representing cellular functions in chemically accurate terms enables quantitative computation of cellular behavior. It is quite remarkable how far this field has come in just the past couple of years, and it appears that we can look forward to continuing advances in the near future."

### END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Borneo stalagmites provide new view of abrupt climate events over 100,000 years

2013-06-07
A new set of long-term climate records based on cave stalagmites collected from tropical Borneo shows that the western tropical Pacific responded very differently than other regions of the globe to abrupt climate change events. The 100,000-year climate record adds to data on past climate events, and may help scientists assess models designed to predict how the Earth's climate will respond in the future. The new record resulted from oxygen isotope analysis of more than 1,700 calcium carbonate samples taken from four stalagmites found in three different northern Borneo ...

Small lifestyle changes may have big impact on reducing stroke risk

2013-06-07
Making small lifestyle changes could reduce your risk of having a stroke, according to a new study in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. Researchers assessed stroke risk using the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 health factors: be active, control cholesterol, eat a healthy diet, manage blood pressure, maintain a healthy weight, control blood sugar and don't smoke. "We used the assessment tool to look at stroke risk and found that small differences in health status were associated with large reductions in stroke risk," said Mary Cushman, M.D., ...

How similar are the gestures of apes and human infants? More than you might suspect

2013-06-07
Psychologists who analyzed video footage of a female chimpanzee, a female bonobo and a female human infant in a study to compare different types of gestures at comparable stages of communicative development found remarkable similarities among the three species. This is the first time such data have been used to compare the development of gestures across species. The chimpanzee and bonobo, formerly called the "pygmy chimpanzee," are the two species most closely related to humans in the evolutionary tree. "The similarity in the form and function of the gestures in ...

ALMA discovers comet factory

2013-06-07
Astronomers now know that planets around other stars are plentiful. But they do not fully understand how they form and there are many aspects of the formation of comets, planets and other rocky bodies that remain a mystery. However, new observations exploiting the power of ALMA are now answering one of the biggest questions: how do tiny grains of dust in the disc around a young star grow bigger and bigger — to eventually become rubble, and even boulders well beyond a metre in size? Computer models suggest that dust grains grow when they collide and stick together. However, ...

Frontiers news briefs: June 6

2013-06-07
Frontiers in Neuroscience Immune regulation of ovarian development: programming by neonatal immune challenge Bacterial infections during early life, such as Chlamydia which is present in 15% of newly born babies, may reduce reproductive success in adult women. For example, exposure to bacteria can lead to a change in the onset of puberty, as well as in ovarian morphology and sexual behavior. Luba Sominsky and colleagues from the University of Newcastle, Australia, here show that when infant rats are injected with lipopolysaccharide molecules that are normally found ...

The swing of architect genes

2013-06-07
A few days. This is the short period of time during which our body's construction plan is put in place, during its embryonic life. The appea- rance of limbs and vertebrae is orchestrated by a family of 'architect' genes called Hox, each providing precise instructions at a given time. Denis Duboule, a geneticist at the Faculty of Science of the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), demonstrated that these genes were aligned within our chromosomes according to the order of structures that will emerge: first the components ...

Conflict-of-interest restrictions needed to ensure strong FDA review

2013-06-07
WASHINGTON, DC—A 2012 law that loosened conflict-of-interest restrictions for FDA advisory panels could weaken the agency's review system and could allow more drugs with safety problems to gain market approval, says a new analysis published June 7 in Science by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS). The 2012 legislation removed measures put in place by an earlier law passed in 2007, according to the report by Susan F. Wood, PhD, an associate professor of health policy at SPHHS and Jillian K. Mador, a medical ...

Minor changes in cardiovascular health reduce chances of stroke

2013-06-07
A report, published in Stroke, showed that small improvements in cardiovascular risk factors reduce the chances a person will suffer a stroke. The report is part of an ongoing national study called Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) which is funded by NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Strokes are caused by abnormal changes in blood flow in the brain or the bursting of brain blood vessels. Previous studies suggest that strokes can be prevented ...

'Dust trap' around distant star may solve planet formation mystery

2013-06-07
Based on a treasure trove of recent discoveries, astronomers now know that planets are remarkably plentiful in our galaxy and may be common throughout the Universe. Though planets appear to form readily, the actual process of planet formation remains a mystery and astronomers are searching for the missing pieces to this cosmic puzzle. An international team of researchers using the new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope has discovered an intriguing clue that could help explain how rocky planets are able to evolve out of a swirling disk of dust ...

How young genes gain a toehold on becoming indispensable

2013-06-07
SEATTLE – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists have, for the first time, mapped a young gene's short, dramatic evolutionary journey to becoming essential, or indispensable. In a study published online June 6 in Science, the researchers detail one gene's rapid switch to a new and essential function in the fruit fly, challenging the long-held belief that only ancient genes are important. "We really haven't paid much attention to what is new, because there's so much emphasis on what is old," said Harmit Singh Malik, Ph.D., a member of the Hutchinson Center's ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

What’s behind the enormous increase in early-onset gastrointestinal cancers?

Pharmacogenomics expert advances precision medicine for bipolar disorder

Brazilian researcher explores centenarian stem cells for aging insights

Dr. Xuyu Qian's breakthrough analysis of 18 million brain cells advances understanding of human brain development

Gene networks decode human brain architecture from health to glioma

How artificial light at night damages brain health and metabolism

For ultrasound, ultra-strength not always a good thing

Matching your workouts to your personality could make exercising more enjoyable and give you better results

Study shows people perceive biodiversity

Personality type can predict which forms of exercise people enjoy

People can accurately judge biodiversity through sight and sound

People diagnosed with dementia are living longer, global study shows

When domesticated rabbits go feral, new morphologies emerge

Rain events could cause major failure of Waikīkī storm drainage by 2050

Breakthrough in upconversion luminescence research: Uncovering the energy back transfer mechanism

Hidden role of 'cell protector' opens cancer treatment possibilities

How plants build the microbiome they need to survive in a tough environment

Depression due to politics and its quiet danger to democracy addressed in new book 'The Sad Citizen'

International experts and patients unite to help ensure all patients are fully informed before consenting to new surgical procedures

Melting glaciers could trigger more explosive eruptions globally, finds research

Nearly half of U.S. grandchildren live within 10 miles of a grandparent

Study demonstrates low-cost method to remove CO₂ from air using cold temperatures, common materials

Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) welcomes 13 students to prestigious Summer Fellowship program

Mass timber could elevate hospital construction

A nuanced model of soil moisture illuminates plant behavior and climate patterns

$2.6 million NIH grant backs search for genetic cure in deadly heart disease

Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis program changed drastically when anxiety was added as a qualifying condition

1 in 5 overweight adults could be reclassified with obesity according to new framework

Findings of study on how illegally manufactured fentanyl enters U.S. contradict common assumptions, undermining efforts to control supply

Satellite observations provide insight into post-wildfire forest recovery

[Press-News.org] Metabolic model of E. coli reveals how bacterial growth responds to temperature change