Amino Acids

Scientists have discovered a full, previously-unknown protein inside a meteorite for the first time. Named hemolithin, the new protein contains iron and lithium and may play an important role in seeding life on habitable planets like Earth.

Exactly how life sprung out of non-living matter is one of biology’s biggest mysteries. In new research, scientists cooked up a “primordial soup” and found that some of the crucial building blocks of life spontaneously stacked themselves in a surprisingly efficient way.

A new study from UCL may have brought us a step closer to understanding how life arose. The team may have solved a long-standing chicken-and-egg riddle related to how different types of peptides and proteins interact to give rise to life.

Living cells follow instructions encoded in DNA to construct organisms. It’s long been thought that one DNA sequence would always create the same protein, but now researchers have found the first exception to this “universal rule,” a microbe that chooses between two different translations each time.

Evidence is mounting that the building blocks of life were assembled in space and then delivered to Earth after new experiments managed to produce a key amino acid under simulated space conditions. This means we humans, and all other life on the planet, might have actually been aliens all along.​

Researchers have created the world's first "semi-synthetic" life form by adding two new unnatural bases to the DNA of a strain of bacteria. The breakthrough could lead to the creation of entirely new molecules that have the potential to form the foundation for new medicines.

It's no secret that eating protein can fill you up faster than other foods. Researchers have figured out just why that is, and they've identified the specific foods that satisfy hunger the quickest. Their findings could lead to treatments that fight obesity and make us feel fuller while eating less.

Researchers at Washington University’s School of Medicine have found a way to deliver a one-two punch to tumors, by inhibiting their primary fuel supply and a secondary “salvage pathway” at the same time. The finding could lead to treatments that kill cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue.

It has long been known that the soil samples collected in the late 60s and early 70s contained low levels of organic matter in the form of amino acids, but the technology to determine where they came from has not been available ... until now.

ESO astronomers have used the ALMA telescope to observe the protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star, revealing the presence of complex organic molecules that represent the building blocks of life. The findings mark the first time that such a discovery has been made.

A team of scientists led by UC Irvine has shown that you can unboil an egg. Far more than a breakfast table trick, the feat is designed to demonstrate a new technique for recovering valuable molecular proteins quickly and cheaply that could have important biochemical applications.

Researchers at the A*STAR's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore have developed a nanogel using self-assembling ultrashort peptide technology that can heal burn wounds much faster than the silicone-based wound dressings currently used