One of the longstanding challenges in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food additives is the continuous regeneration of molecules called cofactors that permit the synthesis through inexpensive and environmentally friendly biocatalytic processes.
Now, a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Universite Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France, has developed a microreactor that efficiently regenerates cofactors through enzyme-catalyzed react
The numbers of overwintering waterbirds at Lake Constance, a large lake on the borders of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, have increased fourfold since the early 1960s, with a daily average of 162 500 waterbirds from September to April as shown by a study published in the august issue of Freshwater Biology. This massive increase coincides with the major expansion of zebra mussels in the lake, originating in the Caspian-Aral basin, and a major pest in Europe and North America.
The ma
Roughly 15 percent of genes are expressed differently among males of same species
Scientists working with salmon have found that gene expression in the brain can differ significantly among members of a species with different life histories. Their study indicates that roughly 15 percent of Atlantic salmon genes show differential expression in males who migrate from their freshwater birthplaces to mature in oceans versus those who do not leave the freshwater environment to mature.
If necessity is the mother of invention, the coevolutionary arms race is the mother of adaptation. For parasites and hosts engaged in an ongoing battle to gain advantage, those adaptations take many forms. In a new analysis in the premier open access journal PLoS Biology, Stephanie Bedhomme, Yannis Michalakis, and colleagues extend traditional methods of studying the coevolution of parasite virulence and host life history traits by introducing an additional variable: intraspecific competition
University of Michigan researchers have figured out one more component in cancer cells’ aggressive growth—and hope that knowledge can help kill the cells.
In the July issue of Cancer Cell, the scientists explain how cancer tumor cells attach themselves to a protein on the surface of cells lining blood vessel walls. When this attachment happens, it tells the cancer cell to grow and develop blood vessels, which feed the cell. Cun-Yu Wang, senior author on the paper, said this
A therapeutic approach for battling cancer that is based on infection with a specially designed virus similar to the one that causes the common cold has shown promise in clinical trials. Now, new research suggests that fever might be a useful weapon in the fight as well. The study, published in the July issue of Cancer Cell, demonstrates that tumor cells are even more sensitive to viral therapy after they have been incubated at an elevated temperature. The findings could have a significant impact on
If necessity is the mother of invention, the coevolutionary arms race is the mother of adaptation. For parasites and hosts engaged in an ongoing battle to gain advantage, those adaptations take many forms. In a new analysis in the premier open access journal PLoS Biology, Stephanie Bedhomme, Yannis Michalakis, and colleagues extend traditional methods of studying the coevolution of parasite virulence and host life history traits by introducing an additional variable: intraspecific competition betwe
About 13% of bacteria near the ocean’s surface contain proteorhodopsin, a membrane protein able to harness sunlight’s energy, according to a new study by Oded Beja and colleagues in the open-access journal PLoS Biology. Given the dearth of nutrients in their environment, these oligotrophic bacteria must generate their energy from a variety of sources. The study reveals that proteorhodopsin is uniquely suited to capturing the high-radiation sunlight that illuminates the sea. Through
High throughput method is very versatile, signals a new era for NMR
University at Buffalo scientist created a stir in 2003 when he announced a much faster, more precise and far less expensive method of obtaining nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data to map a protein’s atomic structure. Genomics researchers were fascinated, but some also were a bit skeptical.
Not anymore.
In the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Thomas A. Sz
Experiments in mice show that an antiviral drug currently used against annual influenza strains also can suppress the deadly influenza virus that has spread from birds to humans, killing dozens of people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand since early 2004. This study, the first published report conducted on oseltamivir against the H5N1 influenza strain circulating in Vietnam, found that the drug, sold commercially as Tamiflu, dramatically boosted the survival rate of infected mice.
Th
Hot summer survival possible
New knowledge of how plants “breathe” may help us breed and select plants that would better survive scorching summers, says a University of Toronto study.
The paper, which offers the first example of a gene that controls how leaves close their surface pores, appears in the July 12 issue of Current Biology. “It’s very exciting,” says U of T botany professor and senior author Malcolm Campbell. “This is a gene that helps regulate carbon dioxi
Washington State University researcher’s findings could help crops fend off disease
Scientists at Washington State University in Pullman have discovered a molecule that plays a role in the battle plants must win against bacteria and fungi that would eat them for lunch. The group led by Professor Clarence A. “Bud” Ryan isolated a small protein called Pep1 that appears to act like a hormone, signaling to the rest of the plant to raise its defenses at the first sign of an i
Using nitrous oxide – or “laughing gas” – to put the bubbles in chocolate produces a more intense, melt-in-the-mouth flavour, according to Chemistry & Industry magazine.
Gases like carbon dioxide or nitrogen are commonly used to produce the air bubbles in aerated chocolates like Aero.
Researchers at the University of Reading, UK, tested the effects of aeration with four gases – nitrous oxide, nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide – on the sensory properties of chocolate p
Why does a male copulate without delivering semen? In a study that sheds new light on the evolution of sexual behaviour, researchers have utilised a novel technique to reveal that in feral chickens, the simple stimulus generated by male mounting reduces the sexual promiscuity of a hen, indicating that even copulations that do not result in semen transfer, a puzzling male behaviour frequently observed in the chicken and many other species, may be crucial to defend the paternity of a male.
F
Findings published in this month’s issue of Virology
An outbreak of 72 cases of monkeypox in the United States during the summer of 2003 didn’t produce a single fatality, even though the disease usually kills 10 percent of those infected.
Why did none of the patients die? New research from Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center and several partner institutions may provide an answer.
In this month’s issue of Virology, researcher and senior
UCLA chemists have created the first nano valve that can be opened and closed at will to trap and release molecules. The discovery, federally funded by the National Science Foundation, will be published July 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“This paper demonstrates unequivocally that the machine works,” said Jeffrey I. Zink, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, and a member of the resea
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