protein Archives

Grasping the grains of gluten

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Gluten is a type of protein present in certain cereal grains. The composition of gluten gives wheat dough its elasticity and viscous properties. Increasing intolerance to gluten in human diets has led to a surge in gluten-free food consumption. Here, we understand the important, unique characteristics of gluten, and its major sources. The term gluten is now commonplace in everyday […]

Lead ammunition used by hunters has us all in its sights

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Dr Arnemo has teamed up with scientists worldwide to draw attention to the fact that hunting and lead ammunition remains a significant source of lead exposure in humans and wildlife.

For millions of people, game meat is their primary source of protein, but if the animal is shot using lead (Pb) ammunition, its meat can be toxic. The lead in the ammunition also finds its way into wildlife, ecosystems, and the global food chain, taking the poison far beyond the gun barrel. There are non-lead alternatives, but hunters are slow […]

Conjugation chemistry creates affordable childhood vaccines

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Andrew Lees has developed a conjugation method for the development of conjugate vaccines using the chemical CDAP, and combining this with a minimal-profit business model, is providing vaccines at affordable rates to children in developing countries.

The immune system provides a formidable defence against pathogens. However, many bacteria possess a protective sugar polymer coat. In children, the immune system does not respond to these polymers unless they are chemically linked to a carrier. This is the basis of conjugate vaccines, a powerful but expensive means to fight diseases like pneumonia, the leading cause of death in […]

Connectase: An enzyme that fuses proteins in a specific manner

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Dr Adrian Fuchs, post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, and his team of researchers have discovered an enzyme that can fuse two proteins at specific recognition sites. This reaction enables the engineering of proteins with new characteristics, for example by labeling them with a detectable marker or by manipulating their interaction behaviour. Such applications are useful […]

Regulators of protein degradation as potential treatments for neurodegenerative disease

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Beta amyloid plays a fundamental role in disease pathogenesis in Alzheimer’s.

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, are characterised by the accumulation of misfolded and damaged protein aggregates. Normally, proteins that are damaged or malfunctioning are destroyed by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). However, the UPS itself is impaired in several instances of neurodegenerative diseases. Dr David Smith and his team at the School of Medicine, University of West […]

Protein as a Unifying Metric for Carbon Footprinting Livestock

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The GHG-protein indicator can be used to inform consumers and producers about the impact of red meat consumption on GHG levels in Canada.

Agriculture and livestock production contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. To reduce these emissions, some environmental groups advocate reducing the amount of red meat that we consume. James Dyer and Raymond Desjardins, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), were interested in the impact that reducing red meat, diversifying meat consumption and changing cattle diets could potentially have on […]

How new RNA genes are born

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Dr Delihas made an unexpected discovery of an ancestral DNA repeat sequence.

The study of gene birth and evolution focuses on the identification of ancestral genetic sequences, highly conserved during evolution, that can serve as a foundation for gene development. Nicholas Delihas, Professor Emeritus at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, New York, has identified one such ancestral element and presented data and a model to show how new […]