Hyderabad: A new facility dedicated to the research of zebra fish, whose genome was similar to that of the human beings, has been established at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Director General Samir K Brahmachari inaugurated the state-of-the-art Zebra Fish Research Facility at the CCMB campus today.

CCMB has been engaged in research on zebra fish, a native of Indian subcontinent that has gained prominence as a model organism as it provides access to genetic, reverse genetic, genomic, cell biology and molecular biology approaches with distinct advantages in vertebrate system.

Speaking on the occasion, CCMB Director Mohan Rao said genome of zebra fish was similar to the genome of human beings. This has prompted CCMB to deal exclusively with this fish to investigate developmental biology in vertebrates.

The zebra fish was an important model to study human diseases and modern biology and the new centre will be used for this purpose, he said.

The facility is equipped with sets of stand-alone zebra fish system, breeding/handling set in temperature and light-controlled rooms along with a full-fledged laboratory.

written by Molecular Biology

Even though arsenic is toxic for many organs in the human body, it is used in therapeutic medicine and the treatment of some forms of cancer, and is an active component of drugs against parasitic diseases.

Yet science has understoodrelatively little about the mechanisms by which cells develop resistance to arsenic, which may lead to a lower therapeutic effect. For her thesis, Doryaneh Ahmadpour at the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, has carried out experiments with common baker’s yeast, in order to find out how inflow and outflow take place in cells. The work  may lead to more effective arsenic-containing drugs and also lead to more resistant plants and crops with a limited absorption and storage of arsenic.

“The knowledge we obtain from determining these mechanisms in yeast can be subsequently used in the long term to produce more effective drugs containing arsenic. A membrane protein known as Fps1 is particularly interesting. This protein transports the trivalent form of arsenic (arsenite) into and out from the cell,” says Ahmadpour, who worked with Michael Thorsen to show how the Fps1 protein is regulated and how the inflow into the cell of arsenic is influenced by another protein, Hog1.

The results suggest that a reduction in the activity of Hog1 is an effective way of increasing the ability of the cell to absorb arsenic. This may make the cell more sensitive to arsenic and thus give more effective treatment. Resistance to arsenic can be increased in a similar manner, by increasing the activity of Hog1, which reduces the inflow of arsenic into the cells.

“We have shown also that a protein known as Slt2 regulates the outflow of arsenic from the cell, and increases the resistance of the cell to arsenic. It is possible, in the same way, to regulate the cellular resistance against arsenic by controlling the activity of Slt2.”

Arsenic is a toxic metalloid that is naturally found in earth crust. It can be leached out by water or spread by industrial activity. Arsenic is a global problem due to the increasing contamination of water, soil and crops, not only in the industrialized world but also in developing countries.
Increased knowledge about arsenic can be used to produce plants with a high absorption, and these can be used to clean contaminated land. The knowledge can also be used to produce food crops, known as “safe crops”, with a limited absorption and storage of arsenic.

written by Molecular Biology

Protein binds to growth factor receptor, priming it for normal function; Likely tie to 4 cancers

HOUSTON – Once considered merely a passive link between proteins that matter, Grb2 – pronounced “grab2″ – actually lives up to its nickname with its controlling grip on an important cell signaling pathway, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in the June 22 issue of Cell.

“Grb2 is a switch that controls normal signaling through the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR),” said the paper’s senior author, John Ladbury, Ph.D., professor in MD Anderson’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

“Perhaps the best way to think about it is that Grb2 controls cell homeostasis (stable state) before a growth factor binds to FGFR, activating this molecular pathway,” Ladbury said.

In addition to discovering a fundamental aspect of FGFR signaling, the researchers’ discovery points to a potential explanation of why genomic alterations found in breast, bladder and gastric cancers and melanoma might promote cancer formation and growth, Ladbury noted.

FGFR has a docking station to receive growth factors on the cell surface, and another internal region that passes the growth factor signal on to proteins inside the cell by attaching phosphate groups to them.

FGFR employs phosphorylation to regulate a number of important processes, including the cell cycle, cell proliferation and migration. When some of these pathways become overactive, they can contribute to cancer growth and survival.

written by Molecular Biology