Among all the molecules that constitute living organisms, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is probably the most popular and certainly it deserves the “molecule of life” surname. However, its role as the keeper of the critical information needed to construct an organism would be useless without the help of a very close relative, with a strikingly similar […]
The organism that causes flu is the influenza virus. It belongs to the family Orthomyxoviridae and they are included in Group V of the Baltimore classification, consisting in negative sense, single-stranded RNA viruses. Within this family there are three genres that are responsible for the flu: Influenza A virus, Influenza B virus and Influenza C […]
The genome is the text of life. Its ink is the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a heteropolimer of four nucleotides (guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine). It encodes the instructions to make work all known living organisms (and viruses). It was isolated at first in 1869 for Friedrich Miescher and at the early 50s of the 20 […]
From a certain point of view, eukaryotic cells could be described as microscopic power plants equipped with factories and energy-generating platforms, inside of which highways and compartments are constantly built and rebuilt, and a fluent traffic provides a constant recycling of structures while getting rid of garbage. The trafficking also involves material coming in and […]
Proteins perform most of the daily work of the cell, they catalyse most of the biochemical reactions, initiate and mediate the electrical signals in our neurons and form an important part of the structure of our bodies. Formed by up to several thousand amino acids (from a set of 20 different types) chained one after […]
Proteins are sophisticated machines that perform most of our cellular activities. Proteins are codified in the cellular DNA and synthesized as linear chains that need to get properly folded in a 3D structure to become functional. This state is named native structure. Several perturbations can challenge the native structure of the proteins converting them into […]
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by an inefficiency to respond to the glucose requirements of the body, a process largely regulated by the popular hormone known as insulin. Insulin is produced and secreted in a specific type of cells in the pancreas called β-cells, which are able to detect and respond to high glucose […]
The advances in molecular biology and the so called post-genomic era, have improved significantly the fight against many human diseases, in some cases almost leading to their eradication. However, there are still regions of our planet were people suffer from infections and other causes of mortality which are easily avoided in the most developed countries […]
The molecular base underlying neuronal processes is being constantly enriched by extended research focused on the investigation of mechanisms involving neurological pathologies. This broad field ranges from widely extended diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, to other less well-known, generally low-incidence neurodegenerative pathologies. However, one of the most challenging aims of modern neuroscience is the understanding […]