Single-cell RNA sequencing, or “scRNA-seq” for short, is a technique that allows scientists to study the expression of genes in an individual cell within a mixed population – which is virtually how all cells exist in the body’s tissues. Part of a larger family of “single-cell sequencing” techniques, scRNA-seq involves capturing the RNA of a single cell and, after multiple molecular conversion reactions, sequencing it. Since RNA is the intermediate step from gene (DNA) to protein, it provides an overview…
Whenever bats use echolocation when foraging for food or to communicate with other bats: sounds are omnipresent. How Seba’s short-tailed bat, a species native to South America, filters out important signals from the wide diversity of ambient sound is being examined by researchers at the Institute of Cell Biology and Neuroscience at Goethe University Frankfurt. The most recent finding: the brain stem, which to date had been regarded as being solely responsible for very basic tasks, already processes the probabilities…
Wildfires are devastating, but they can also bring new life by clearing existing vegetation and allowing new plants to spring up. Many plants in fire-prone areas actually require exposure to fire for seeds to germinate. In the past decade, scientists have discovered an ancient receptor protein that can detect molecules called karrikins in smoke from burnt plant material. The “smoke detector” protein, called KAI2, initiates molecular signals that speed up germination of seeds. Curiously, KAI2 proteins also show up in…
How hermaphroditic worms distribute their resources. Hermaphroditic species face a fundamental question: how much energy should they expend on their male and female sides? Flatworms have found various answers to this question over the course of evolution – and the solutions are directly correlated with their mating behavior. Many plants and animals have both male and female reproductive organs. To ensure that reproduction is successful and that they can pass their genes on to as many offspring as possible, these…
Research team from Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy finds clue to possible extraterrestrial origin of peptides. Chains of amino acids All life as we know it consists of the same chemical building blocks. These include peptides, which perform various completely different functions in the body – transporting substances, accelerating reactions or forming stabilising scaffolds in cells. Peptides consist of individual amino acids arranged in a specific order. The exact order determines a peptide’s eventual…
A recent study explains an essential component for proper mitochondrial function: The protein complexes MICOS and ATP synthase can communicate with each other. Dr. Heike Rampelt and Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Pfanner at the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Freiburg have uncovered an important mechanism that ensures efficient metabolic adaptation of mitochondria. The research is a collaboration with the groups of Prof. Dr. Martin van der Laan of Saarland University, Prof. Dr. Claudine Kraft of the…
Epigenetic data have enormous potential… The cells of our body all have the same genetic material. Their genome is identical, but the cells are different, because their genes are differently active. Chemical marks on the DNA, for example through methylation or modification of histones, control the activity of the genes and shape their cell identity (epigenetics). Using methylation data from great apes, researchers at the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena, Germany, were able to…
Cerebral venous thrombosis is a rare, often severe disease that has been brought to public attention by the Covid 19 pandemic. A research group from Würzburg has now succeeded for the first time in deciphering a molecular cause of this disease. This opens the way to new therapeutic approaches. Published in Nature Cardiovascular Research. Cerebral venous thrombosis is a rare form of cerebral circulatory disorder that, unlike classic stroke, more often affects younger people. For unknown reasons, blood clots (thrombi)…
Heidelberg plant researchers discover cellular mechanism that extends the life of proteins. Plants are tied to one location and need to adjust to their environment, including adverse conditions. Adaptive responses include synthesising new proteins and breaking down those that are no longer needed. For this task, plants use a considerable amount of energy. Thus, regulation of protein turnover in the plant cell has to be appropriately thorough. Researchers at the Centre for Organismal Studies of Heidelberg University led by Dr…
Newly discovered brain circuit in motor learning. Learning new motor skills is a critical aspect of our lives. From playing the piano to riding a bike, it would be difficult to imagine life without it. But how does the brain do it? A new study published today (February 9th) in the scientific journal Science Advances sheds light on a newly discovered brain circuit that may endow us with this remarkable ability. How the Cortex Talks to the Striatum The cortex…
What happens inside neurons when we memorize a password or learn the cello? Some of our basic understanding about learning and memory comes from the study of conditions in which cognitive development is disrupted. For example, FMRP, a protein whose loss causes fragile X syndrome, intellectual disability, and some forms of autism has been shown to play a key role in these brain functions, helping regulate synaptic connections between neurons. A new study now suggests that the role of this…
… nanofoams are key to surviving mass extinctions. Scientists from the Natural History Museum, London (United Kingdom), and the ESRF, the European Synchrotron, Grenoble (France), have found that some pollen has survived mass extinctions thanks, in part, to its nanofoam wall structure. This may explain why the survival of certain plants. It is the first time scientists have described a biological nanofoam structure. Their results are published in Science Advances. Pollen grains protect plant’s genetic material from environmental threats during…
A cloud-based repository that creates a digital fingerprint of engineered microorganisms has been successfully trialled. An international team led by Newcastle University has launched CellRepo, a species and strain database that uses cell barcodes to monitor and track engineered organisms. Reported in a new study in the journal Nature Communications, the database keeps track and organises the digital data produced during cell engineering. It also molecularly links that data to the associated living samples. Available globally, this resource supports international…
Phosphorus is one of the most important nutrients for plants. Among other functions, it is needed to create substances for the plant’s immune system, for the healthy development of seeds and for root growth. A team of researchers led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong have now demonstrated how a root symbiosis with fungi is driven at the molecular level by the plant’s phosphate status. Land plants absorb phosphate better when they…
Several layers of nanographenes stacked on top of each other: such functional elements could one day be used in solar cells. Würzburg chemists have paved the way for this. Graphene is a carbon material that forms extremely thin layers. Because of its unusual properties, it is interesting for many technical applications. This also applies to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can be regarded as cut-outs of graphene. They are considered promising materials for organic photovoltaics or for field-effect transistors. Large,…
A gene-silencing tool could enable new opportunities for advancing basic biomedical research and drug development. The technique draws on the power of small noncoding RNA molecules that normally suppress gene activity. Known as Piwi-interacting RNAs, or piRNAs, these regulatory molecules normally play a critical role in bringing genomic parasites to heel. But geneticist Christian Frøkjær-Jensen and his colleagues at KAUST co-opted this piRNA pathway to deliberately quell the activity of target genes of interest1. Working in nematode worms — a…
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