((( Latest Protein Spotlight issue: dropping barriers )))
January 2020
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Blood. It is deep red, liquid and essential to life, and courses
through us from the very early stages of our development to our final
gasp. It cannot have taken long for our ancestors to make the link
between blood and life. They will have seen the rich red fluid seep
from wounds alongside the lifeless bodies of animals they had just
hunted down, and understood that the same fluid flows through their
own bodies. Blood is indeed a tissue (albeit liquid) of vital
importance, composed of myriads of crucial cells and nutrients, which
is why - when lost - it is transfused. There is a snag however: no two
bloods are identical. But all human bloods can be sorted into
well-defined groups of which the most representative are the A, B, AB
and O blood groups. The O blood group can be transfused to everyone,
while the other blood groups cannot. This is why scientists have been
searching for ways, literally, to shift A, B and AB blood types to the
'universal' O blood type - which could resolve the problem of
insufficient stocks in blood banks. There have been several attempts,
none of which conclusive. One more promising attempt involves bacteria
from our gut microbiome, and two enzymes: a D-galactosamine
deacetylase and a D-galactosamine galactosaminidase.
Read more: http://www.proteinspotlight.org
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((( Latest Protein Spotlight issue: sting )))
January 2020
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Venomé hasà a «language of its own». The recurring message is not
a nice one, and usually expresses one thing: back off. Certain animals
use venom - a cocktail of molecules - to ward off predators or, at the
very least, to divert oncoming danger. We all know what a wasp's sting
is like and many of us may have felt the sting of a jellyfish, or
perhaps even the bite of a snake. It is a painful experience. To what
end? The reason is twofold: one, we at once recoil from the animal
that has just caused pain and two, our body is instantly told where it
hurts. Concomitantly, the animal takes flight while our body attends
to our wound. The feeling of pain itself is caused by the opening and
closing of minute channels that riddle the membranes of our nerve
cells just under our skin. This gives rise to pain signals that
originate at the location of the sting, or bite, and are relayed to
our brain. Understanding how pain occurs on the molecular plane helps
scientists find ways of designing pain relievers. However, more often
than not, pain is usually accompanied by swelling which has a
protective role. So we face a conundrum: how do you relieve pain while
preserving inflammation? One particular scorpion toxin, the Black Rock
scorpion toxin known as the wasabi receptor toxin or WaTx, may well
provide an answer.
Read more: http://www.proteinspotlight.org
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following link: http://www.proteinspotlight.org/back_issues/219/
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