The 2006 Nobel notables
Stanford professor Roger Kornberg, is this year’s Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription. In 2001, he solved the structure of RNA polymerase II, the molecular machine required to transfer genetic information encoded in genetic DNA into messenger RNA or mRNA. Ultimately, mRNA provides instructions for the cellular machinery to make all the proteins required for the functions of the cell. Kornberg’s structure enabled other biochemists and molecular biologists to unravel details about the mechanisms of transcription and how they are regulated by the cell.
The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine went to two American scientists, Andrew Fire and Craig Mello for their work on RNA interference, “RNAi.” While single-stranded mRNA is required for regular cell function, at times, RNA can also take on the aberrant form of a double-strand. When this happens, the cellular machinery degrades it and memorizes its sequence should the double-stranded mRNA form again. Hence, the gene from which the double-stranded mRNA came is silenced. From initial studies in the worm C. elegans in 1998, Fire and Mello laid the groundwork for what is one of today’s most exciting research fields. RNAi is being developed as a cellular defense against viruses, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
The Big Bang theory may be old news, but a new Nobel in Physics went jointly to two American scientists, John C. Mather and George F. Smoot. With a team of over a thousand, the researchers launched the COBE satellite in 1989, a satellite that provided support for the Big Bang theory and marked the beginnings of cosmology as a precise science.
Source: nobelprize.org
-Mandy Lo and Sandy Huen
Heart-happy pecans
Adding a handful of pecans to your daily diet may help reduce your risk of heart disease despite the pecan’s high levels of unsaturated fat, a new study finds. Pecans contain high levels of gamma tocopherol, a form of vitamin E which protects blood lipids from unwanted oxidation. When “bad” cholesterol is oxidized, it is more likely to build up in arteries and result in heart disease. Blood samples from 23 male and female participants-all of whom were placed randomly on either the American Heart Association’s Step I diet or a pecan-enriched version of the Step I diet-were analyzed within four weeks of having started the diet. All participants were then switched to the other diet. The research team found that the pecan-enriched diets reduced lipid oxidation by seven percent. The phytochemicals found in pecans seemed to be protective of the pecan’s high levels of unsaturated fat. Therefore, instead of increasing oxidation in the body by eating more fats, the pecan-enriched diet showed an overall reduction in the oxidation of lipids.
Source: Nutrition Research
-Abigail Slinger
Busting skin-deep science
Be cheated by commercial pseudoscience no more! Recently, German researchers have developed a laser-based test to measure relative amounts of collagen and elastin in the skin. As skin ages, collagen degenerates, leading to the appearance of wrinkles and the loss of smoothness. Using this technology, researchers found that a women’s skin loses collagen faster than men’s skin, meaning women tend to look older. The non-invasive nature of the technique makes it preferable to current methods of looking at skin structure, which can involve removing samples of tissue. This new technology may also stir a controversy in the cosmetics industry since collagen-related claims by advertising giants can now be more readily tested.
Source: Optics Letters
-Mayce Al-Sukhni
One giant leap for plant-kind
While the evolutionary debate about humans rages on, the evolution of plants has largely remained out of the limelight. However, this botanical controversy is by no means milder than its animal counterpart. For centuries, scientists have produced theory after theory explaining the shift from early aquatic plants to land plants, theories that often conflicted. Today, researchers have pinpointed several events over the evolution of land plants that address these conflicts. An organism called charophyte algae was the plant kingdom’s first step on to land. Charophytes optimized two necessities of life by colonizing land-sunlight undiminished by passage through water and abundant carbon dioxide. The next step was a change in life cycles. All plants undergo an “alternation of generation,” meaning they live in two forms, as a gametophyte and a sporopohyte. Today, most land plants spend their time as sporophytes while simpler plants spend most of their time as gametophytes. This shift was the second step in the evolution of the modern land plant. Why should the evolution of plants matter as much as the evolution of say, a chimpanzee? With research today focusing on biofuels and medically important plants, it’s as important to understand the biology of a plant, as it is an animal.
Source: PNAS
-S.H.
