Lifeboat Foundation

Genome and Structure:

HIV’s genome is a 9.7 kb linear positive-sense ssRNA.¹ There is a m⁷G-cap (specifically the standard eukaryotic m⁷GpppG as added by the host’s enzymes) at the 5’ end of the genome and a poly-A tail at the 3’ end of the genome.² The genome also has a 5’-LTR and 3’-LTR (long terminal repeats) that aid its integration into the host genome after reverse transcription, that facilitate HIV genetic regulation, and that play a variety of other important functional roles. In particular, it should be noted that the integrated 5’UTR contains the HIV promoter called U3.^3,4

HIV’s genome translates three polyproteins (as well as several accessory proteins). The Gag polyprotein contains the HIV structural proteins. The Gag-Pol polyprotein contains (within its Pol component) the enzymes viral protease, reverse transcriptase, and integrase. The Gag-Pol polyprotein is produced via a −1 ribosomal frameshift at the end of Gag translation. Because of the lower efficiency of this frameshift, Gag-Pol is synthesized 20-fold less frequently than Gag.⁵ The frameshift’s mechanism depends upon a slippery heptanucleotide sequence UUUUUUA and a downstream RNA secondary structure called the frameshift stimulatory signal (FSS).⁶ This FSS controls the efficiency of the frameshift process.

Small amounts of nanometer-thin metal-organic layers efficiently protect red blood cells during freezing and thawing, as a team of researchers writing in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition has discovered. The nanolayers, made from metal-organic frameworks based on the metal hafnium, prevent ice crystal formation at very low concentrations. This effective novel cryoprotection mode could be used to develop new and more efficient cryoprotectants for the biosciences.

Cryoprotectants prevent ice crystals from forming when samples are frozen. Growing crystals can damage delicate cell membranes and cell components and disrupt cell integrity. Some solvents or polymers make good cryoprotectants; they keep ice crystal formation in check by binding water molecules and disrupting their ordered assembly during ice formation.

Synthetic chemistry has yet more tricks up its sleeve for targeting and influencing ice formation in a more effective way. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are three-dimensional crystalline networks of metal ions linked by organic ligands. These ligands can be tailored to bind small molecules such as water, allowing the assembly of the water molecules into ice crystals to be very precisely tuned.

Register for free and learn how to never be afraid of cancer again from health expert: Nathan Crane.

Researchers at universities in New York and Ningbo, China, say they have created tiny robots built from DNA that can reproduce themselves.

Such nanorobots could one day launch search-and-destroy missions against cancer cells within a human’s bloodstream without the need for surgery or collect toxic waste from the ocean.

The tiny mechanism is so small that 1,000 of them could fit into the width of a sheet of paper.

I like the chapter “would you want to be”.

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Continue reading “Why Do Humans Grow Old?” »

Pancreatic cancer is deadly, and its toll is growing. Scientists find that scar tissue around the tumor suggests how long a patient will live after diagnosis.

FOX Business’ Lauren Simonetti details a breakthrough finding in the medical community revealing how artificial intelligence can help detect silent seizures.

An MIT study suggests 3D folding of the genome is key to cells’ ability to store and pass on “memories” of which genes they should express.

Every cell in the human body contains the same genetic instructions, encoded in its DNA. However, out of about 30,000 genes, each cell expresses only those genes that it needs to become a nerve cell, immune cell, or any of the other hundreds of cell types in the body.

Each cell’s fate is largely determined by chemical modifications to the proteins that decorate its DNA; these modification in turn control which genes get turned on or off. When cells copy their DNA to divide, however, they lose half of these modifications, leaving the question: How do cells maintain the memory of what kind of cell they are supposed to be?

Continue reading “How cell identity is preserved when cells divide” »

Biotech company Teal Omics founded after researchers develop algorithm that measures how fast individual organs are aging.