Science & Environment

Protein-building RNA molecules reveal possible remnants of an ancestral genetic code

Source: Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories · Published

Protein-building RNA molecules reveal possible remnants of an ancestral genetic code
Source: Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories

The genetic code determines the correspondence between genetic instructions and amino acids—the building blocks that form proteins. How this correspondence arose is one of the major open questions in evolutionary biology. A study led by Dr. Lluís Ribas de Pouplana, ICREA research

The genetic code determines the correspondence between genetic instructions and amino acids—the building blocks that form proteins. How this correspondence arose is one of the major open questions in evolutionary biology. A study led by Dr.

Lluís Ribas de Pouplana, ICREA researcher at IRB Barcelona, and Dr. Paul Schimmel, with the participation of researchers from MIT and Scripps Research, has identified conserved signals in transfer RNAs that could help reconstruct the early stages of this system.

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Protein tails help shape mosquito cell-to-cell channels
Science & Environment

Protein tails help shape mosquito cell-to-cell channels

Cells share small molecules with their neighbors through tiny tunnels made of proteins arranged in a ring. Research at Nagoya University suggests that the tails of the proteins must link up to form an inner ring for the tunnel to become evenly round—a previously unknown step in h

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New approach boosts plastic-eating enzyme's activity nearly tenfold
Science & Environment

New approach boosts plastic-eating enzyme's activity nearly tenfold

Researchers from King's College London and Rutgers University in New Jersey created a modified enzyme (a protein that speeds up chemical reactions) that breaks down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic 10 times quicker, using 10 times less enzyme. They accomplished this just

Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories ·