Are plants dependent on nitric oxide for successful reproduction? Margarida Prado (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal) has discovered that pollen tubes depend on nitric oxide (NO) to guide them to the right place to fertilise the plant. In the presence of drugs such as Viagra the plant’s sensitivity to NO increases thereby influencing pollen tube bending. Prado will present her work on pollen tube redirection at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting in Barcelona o
Microtubules need a helping hand to find chromosomes in dividing egg cells, scientists have discovered. Although it was generally accepted that microtubules act alone as the cellular ropes to pull chromosomes into place, a new study by researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) shows that this is not the case. They found that in large cells such as animal eggs, something else is needed to move the chromosomes into the correct location – fibres of the cytoskeletal molecule actin
A team of scientists, led by researchers at The University of Nottingham, is studying the secret sex life of a fungus that causes potentially life-threatening infections in an effort to find new ways of controlling the disease.
Aspergillus fumigatus causes respiratory infection in up to 5,000 people per year in the UK alone and is also a major cause of respiratory allergy, implicated in asthma, affecting tens of thousands of people.
The fungus has always been thought to la
Resistance to antibiotics is spreading dangerously among bacteria, some of them being resistant to all known medicine. To face this challenge, a radically novel line of attack consists in disorganizing infections, instead of killing individual bacteria. Just like the coordinated activity of our cells is the basis of the proper functioning of our body, the coordinated activity of bacteria is often the basis of infections’ efficiency, and certain drugs have been shown experimentally to impede
Researchers at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a new method that could accelerate the way cancer-causing genes are found and could lead to a more accurate identification of the genes, according to two studies in the July 14, 2005, issue of Nature*.
The gene identification method was developed in genetically modified mice and utilized a piece of jumping DNA, called Sleep
Could mean new test, treatments
Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have identified six genes associated with lymphocytic bronchitis, which is thought to lead to obliterative bronchitis (OB), the most common cause of long-term failure of transplanted lungs.
The researchers hope their results will lead to an earlier, more sensitive, and more accurate standard test for chronic lung rejection
Scientists have identified the first reported case in Asia of primate-to-human transmission of simian foamy virus (SFV), a retrovirus found in macaques and other primates that so far has not been shown to cause disease in humans. The transmission of the virus from a monkey to a human took place at a monkey temple in Bali, Indonesia, the researchers report in the July issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Even though this particular virus jumping to humans may not prove dangerous,
Nerve cells relay messages at blink-of-the-eye speeds by squirting chemicals called neurotransmitters across tiny gaps called synapses to awaiting message receptors. But lots of different receptors and neurotransmitters work simultaneously. Which goes where to send the proper message?
Research reported in the July 20 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience (released online July 13) by a team led by David Featherstone, a University of Illinois at Chicago assistant professor of biology
New search method could aid in the discovery of biomarkers
Using a super-efficient method they invented to search for a type of cancer-related change in all genes of a cell, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers have discovered new evidence about how the “microenvironment” of breast cancers helps drive the cancers’ growth and migration.
The scientists found that non-cancerous cells surrounding young breast cancers — the microenvironment — undergo epigenetic mo
Researchers at the San Raffaele Hospital (Milan, Italy) published unexpected results of studies in which immature nerve cells (adult mouse neural stem cells) injected into the blood of mice with MS-like disease were able to suppress the immune attacks that damage the brain and spinal cord tissues. The study, funded in part by the National MS Society, is being reported by Drs. Stefano Pluchino, Gianvito Martino and colleagues in the July 14, 2005 issue of Nature. These surprising findings, if confi
Hereditary haemochromatosis (HH) is a disease characterised by excessive absorbance and storage of iron in the body, which results from a mutation in HFE, a gene involved in iron regulation. In addition, HH patients have an abnormal immune system (IS), and it has been suggested that the IS is also involved in HH iron deregulation. And now, research by a team of Portuguese scientists about to be published on the 1st of August issue of the journal Blood, shows, that the HFE gene seems to be involved
A systematic search through human genes has begun at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. Working within the MitoCheck consortium that includes 10 other institutes throughout Europe, the EMBL scientists will silence all human genes, one-by-one, to find those involved in cell division (mitosis) and to answer fundamental questions of how cell division is regulated.
The scientists will use a method called ‘RNA interference (RNAi)’ where chemically synthes
Hummingbirds – elegant and light? Not all of them! Of approximately 340 species of hummingbirds, 70% weigh six grams or less, while 30% weigh between six and ten grams. The giant hummingbird, Patagona gigas, with its 20g, is a heavy weight! Other animal species, rodents for example, contain individuals ranging in body mass from 10 grams to a rather phenomenal 60 kilograms. However, unlike the hummingbird, these mass differences occur gradually, rather than with a large ‘gap’ of mass. Maria Jose F
Ever wondered why you aren’t able to swat a fly? The fly’s secret in avoiding death in this way lies in its decision to jump rather than to fly out of the way. “This kind of low-power decision-making could be of interest to those building autonomously navigating robots”, according to Gwyneth Card of the California Institute of Technology, who will be presenting her work on triggered escape response at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting in Barcelona, on Wednesday 13th July [s
Caterpillars are bleeding defensive! Insects are known to lack an antibody-mediated immune response, and research in caterpillars has recently shown that, instead, they produce protective proteins in response to bacterial infection. The pattern recognition receptors (PRR) and antibacterial effectors produced at a first infection still function to protect against a repeated challenge. These results raise important issues in insect research which will be reported by Dr. Ioannis Eleftherianos at the
Aphids salivate at the thought of beans! In fact, if it weren’t for their saliva they would starve to death. Professor Aart van Bel (Justus-Liebig-Universität, Germany) will be speaking at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting in Barcelona, on Thursday 14th July [session P2.1] about how special dynamic proteins are involved in ‘plant rescue systems’ and how aphid’s saliva can overcome their defence mechanism.
Bean plants contain contractile protein bodies (forisomes)
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