Microorganisms have natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that may contain unique bioactivities for drug development and agricultural applications. However, many uncharacterized microbial BGCs remain inaccessible. Researchers at the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign previously demonstrated a technique that uses transcription factor bait to activate large, silent BGCs in bacteria to aid in natural product discovery. […]
The New Year is an opportunity for the Iowa family
By Cyndie Shearing As the old saying goes, "Good things come in threes." For Curtis and Emily Van Grouw of Hull, Iowa, the recent birth of their son and starting a new business in late January are two monumental “good things” to be thankful for – the third remains to be seen. After years of […]
When ants are dueling ants trying to become queen, behavioral and molecular cues quickly determine who will win – ScienceDaily
In the case of an ant species, workers duel in order to establish a new leadership after the death of their queen. While these sparring games stretch over a month, changes in behavior and gene expression in the first three days of the duel can predict exactly who will triumph, according to a New York […]
The hidden dance of the roots revealed – ScienceDaily
Duke researchers have investigated something that is too slow for our eyes to see. A team in the laboratory of biologist Philip Benfey wanted to see how plant roots dig into the ground. So they set up a camera on rice seeds that were sprouting in clear gel and took a new picture every 15 […]
The mitochondria and their protein-producing plants – mitoribosomes – ScienceDaily
Scientists discover for the first time how the body's energy generators are made using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) at the eBIC in Diamond, Oxfordshire. A new paper published in science Today (February 19, 2021) an international team of researchers reported an insight into the molecular mechanism of membrane-bound protein synthesis in mitochondria. This is a fundamental […]
Migratory birds track the climate year round – ScienceDaily
As climate change spreads across America, some areas are getting wetter and others hotter and drier. A new study of the yellow warbler, a widespread migratory songbird, shows that individuals have the same climatic preferences across their migratory range. The work will be published on February 17th in Ecology letters. "What is amazing is that […]
Opening the black box to reveal the rules of the regulatory code of the genome – ScienceDaily
Researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, working with colleagues from Stanford University and the Technical University of Munich on a technical tour de force, developed advanced explainable artificial intelligence (AI) to decipher regulatory instructions encoded in DNA. In a report published online on February 18, 2021 in Natural geneticsThe team found that a […]
Did Darwinian evolution begin before life itself? – ScienceDaily
A study carried out by physicists shows that basic properties of polymer molecules, such as their subunit composition, are sufficient to trigger selection processes in a plausible prebiotic environment. Before life arose on earth, many physicochemical processes on our planet were highly chaotic. In every conceivable combination there was a multitude of small compounds and […]
Swimming upriver on sound waves – ScienceDaily
At some point, doctors will be able to use micro-vehicles small enough to navigate our blood vessels to take biopsies, insert stents, and deliver drugs precisely to hard-to-reach places in the body. Scientists around the world are currently researching and developing suitable micro-vehicles. In most cases they are fed and controlled by acoustic and magnetic […]
A global study of 48 cities found that nature remediates 41.7 million tons of human waste annually – ScienceDaily
The first global assessment of the role ecosystems play in providing sanitation found that nature provides at least 18% of sanitation services in 48 cities around the world, according to researchers in the UK and India. The study was published in the journal on February 19 One earthIt is estimated that more than 2 million […]