Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany and at University of Virginia School of Medicine have revealed a new cellular adaptation to starvation, in which the mitochondria of yeast cells get coated by ribosomes. Surprisingly, the ribosomes attach to the mitochondrial outer membrane with a very unusual 'upside-down' orientation. The discovery of this mechanism has potential implications for our understanding of how stressed cancer cells survive starvation.
Read more: What we can learn from hungry yeast cells
Until now, it was considered certain that people are more likely to cooperate if the benefits from cooperation are higher. A recently published, large-scale study has now called this finding into question: in over 2000 study participants, the researchers found no relationship between benefits from cooperation and willingness to cooperate.
Read more: One-time cooperation decisions unaffected by increased benefits to society
A new study has identified an RNA molecule that is important for skin wound healing. The research may have implications for the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds.
Read more: Key molecule in wound healing identified
Researchers have now discovered that DNA sequence changes known to increase a person's risk for diabetes are linked to how well pancreatic cells can handle two different kinds of molecular stress. In people with these DNA changes, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas may be more likely to fail or die when exposed to stress and inflammation.
Read more: How diabetes-risk genes make cells less resilient to stress