Protein | Common News Update

Apr12021 by adminNo Comments

New vulnerable sites identified on surface of COVID spike protein that ‘could help future vaccine development’

Technology

Scientists have discovered new vulnerable sites on the surface of the COVID-19 spike protein for antibodies which could help in the development of vaccines.Coronavirus is surrounded by spike proteins that it uses to enter and infect human cells. COVID vaccines work by teaching the immune system to make antibodies to the spike protein. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt, Germany, have developed a detailed model of the spike protein to identify potential target sites on its surface for the antibodies.They said previous models have not shown the flexibility of the spike protein or the movements of the protective glycans - which they describe as chains of sugar molecules - that coat it. ...

Feb202020 by adminNo Comments

Veggie-loving monkeyface prickleback may be future sustainable protein

Science

Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Scientists have uncovered the digestive secrets of one the ocean's most unique vegetarians. The discovery, described Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, could pave the way for more sustainable proteins sources. There are more than 30,000 fish species living on planet Earth, but just 5 percent of them are known to eat only plants. One of the few vegetarian species is the monkeyface prickleback, or Cebidichthys violaceus. The unique species, which lives in shallow tide pools on the West Coast, boasts a human-like digestive system, featuring an acidic stomach and both small and large intestines. All living organisms need lipids to survive. Unfortunately for the prickleback, the algae the species eats exclusively contains relatively low levels of lip...

Jun42019 by adminNo Comments

14 Best Vegan and Vegetarian Protein Sources

Health

There are many different varieties of beans—black, white, pinto, heirloom, etc.—but one thing they all have in common is their high amounts of protein. Two cups of kidney beans, for example, contain about 26 grams (more than 3 cups of cow's milk, which contains 24 grams). And you don't have to make beans from scratch to reap their nutritional benefits, says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD, author of Doctor's Detox Diet. "If you want to buy them dried and soak them overnight before you cook them, that's fine," she says. "But it's also perfectly okay—and much easier—to buy them canned, rinse them, and heat them up over the stove."Try this recipe: Farfalle With Zucchini and White Beans ...

Jan272019 by adminNo Comments

Finding of protein key to insulin production may help diabetes treatment

Health

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The discovery of a protein responsible for producing too much insulin, a condition that often leads to type 2 diabetes, may lead researchers to improved treatment. Researchers were able to remove the protein GRP94 to significantly reduce the production of insulin without effecting the productivity of beta cells in the pancreas, according to a study published Friday in Diabetes Journals. "Even though proinsulin has a relatively short sequence, it still needs help acquiring the right structure to become mature, functional insulin. However, several other studies have shown that proinsulin can be folded without help from proteins in artificial cell-free conditions," Michal Tomasz Marzec, a researcher at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, sa...

Sep112018 by adminNo Comments

Protein tricks muscle into burning more energy during exercise, cold

Health

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Researchers have figured out why people burn fat when they exercise or are cold: A small protein only found in muscles that heat up. Sarcolipin, the small peptide in muscles, boosts muscle energy expenditure and fat oxidization during exercise and cold exposure, according to researchers at the nonprofit Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in Orlando, Fla., who published their findings Tuesday in the journal Cell Report. Although skeletal muscle represents 40 percent to 50 percent of body mass, it consumes most of the glucose and fatty acids. "It has the ability to increase its energy expenditure 20- to 30-fold during intense exercise by stimulating insulin-independent glucose uptake and by switching to higher fatty acid uptake and oxidation," the authors w...