Codon News and Research

RSS

The adaptive immunity of human endemic viruses

Researchers studied the evolution of the ability of viruses to evade the neutralizing antibodies.

24 May 2023

Reviving a forgotten antibiotic: Old drug shows new promise against superbugs

Research discusses the activity spectrum of nourseothricin and its components, S-F and S-D, against drug-resistant, gram-negative pathogens. S-F showed promising activity against NDM-1-expressing Klebsiella pneumoniae Nevada strain with minimal toxicity, and it probes the A-decoding site potentially accounting for its miscoding activity.

17 May 2023

Schlafen 12 identified as a novel HIV restriction factor

An international study led by MELIS-UPF researchers from the Infection Biology and Molecular Virology laboratories has identified and characterized Schlafen 12 (SLFN 12) as a novel HIV restriction factor.

10 May 2023

Revving up COVID mRNA vaccines: Algorithm generates 128-fold increase in antibodies

Research paper proposes a new method for predicting highly expressed genes based on codon usage bias and minimum free energy of mRNA secondary structures. The method involves constructing a stochastic grammar that generates sequences with high CAI and low MFE, and testing it on two mRNA vaccines.

3 May 2023

Extended ECG monitoring of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy detects more arrhythmias

Thirty day electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) detects more arrhythmias than the standard 24 to 48 hours, according to late breaking science presented at EHRA 2023, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology.

17 Apr 2023

How SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants have evolved to evade host T-cell immunity

Researchers investigate whether SARS-CoV-2 and its variants have evolved to evade CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity.

15 Apr 2023

Is mRNA decoding in humans structurally and kinetically distinct from bacteria?

Researchers examined molecular-level differences in ribosomal translational fidelity between humans and bacteria.

7 Apr 2023

What is the effect of prior BCG vaccination on the immunogenicity and efficacy of subsequent COVID-19 vaccination?

Researchers assessed the impact of BCG vaccination on the protection provided by SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

28 Mar 2023

Pet dogs across the USA are becoming increasingly resistant to benzimidazole treatment

In a recent study published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, researchers in the United States of America (USA) and Canada found molecular evidence that the parasitic hookworms (Ancylostoma caninum) in pet dogs across the USA are becoming increasingly resistant to benzimidazole, a broad-spectrum anthelmintic drug used for infection control.

22 Mar 2023

Novel RNA sense-and-respond circuit harnesses the force of enzymes to develop better drugs

More than twelve billion doses of mRNA vaccines have been administered globally since the start of the COVID pandemic, saving millions of lives. But RNA-based therapies for other diseases have so far proven more challenging to develop.

20 Mar 2023

Researchers design a virus-resistant, more useful E. coli bacteria

In a step forward for genetic engineering and synthetic biology, researchers have modified a strain of Escherichia coli bacteria to be immune to natural viral infections while also minimizing the potential for the bacteria or their modified genes to escape into the wild.

15 Mar 2023

New method for capturing moments during protein translation

Nascent polypeptide chains or polypeptidyl-tRNAs (pep-tRNAs) occur transiently during protein synthesis. The potential to study these intermediates and better understand their role in processes like gene regulation has been greatly enhanced by the development of a process termed PETEOS—short for peptidyl-tRNA enrichment using organic extraction and silica adsorption.

10 Feb 2023

Novel COVID-19 protein component vaccine elicits durable immune response in rodents

Researchers describe a novel SARS-CoV-2 spike protein component vaccine called MT-001.

9 Feb 2023

Novel prion strain causes chronic wasting disease in a Finland moose

...

19 Jan 2023

Scientists explore synthesis of griffithsin in cell-free systems

A new study described the cell-free manufacturing of griffithsin (GRFT), a broad-spectrum antiviral protein.

28 Dec 2022

Study shows de novo origination of functional microproteins

In a new study, researchers performed a genomic analysis to investigate the origination of human microproteins of biological importance.

23 Dec 2022

mRNA-FISH for the detection of viral RNA in SARS-CoV-2 infected cells and the determination of the kinetics of early RNA replication

Researchers evaluated the early replication kinetics of SARS-CoV-2.

15 Dec 2022