Research has identified critical factors that enable dangerous bacteria to spread disease by surviving on surfaces in hospitals and kitchens. The study into the mechanisms which enable the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa to survive on surfaces, could lead to new ways of targeting harmful bacteria. To survive outside their host, pathogenic bacteria must withstand various environmental stresses. One mechanism is the sugar molecule, trehalose, which is associated with a range of external stresses, particularly osmotic shock – sudden changes…
Derived from microscopic algae, the enzyme converts fatty acids into starting ingredients for solvents and fuels. Although many organisms capture and respond to sunlight, enzymes – proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions – are rarely driven by light. Scientists have identified only three types of natural photoenzymes so far. The newest one, discovered in 2017, is fatty acid photodecarboxylase (FAP). Derived from microscopic algae, it uses blue light to catalyze the conversion of fatty acids, found in fats and oils, into…
New weapons against antibiotic resistance … In the arms race “mankind against bacteria”, bacteria are currently ahead of us. Our former miracle weapons, antibiotics, are failing more and more frequently when germs use tricky maneuvers to protect themselves from the effects of these drugs. Some species even retreat into the inside of human cells, where they remain “invisible” to the immune system. These particularly dreaded pathogens include multi-resistant staphylococci (MRSA), which can cause life-threatening diseases such as sepsis or pneumonia….
Careful criminals usually clean a scene, wiping away visible blood and fingerprints. However, prints made with trace amounts of blood, invisible to the naked eye, could remain. Dyes can detect these hidden prints, but the dyes don’t work well on certain surfaces. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a fluorescent polymer that binds to blood in a fingerprint — without damaging any DNA also on the surface — to create high-contrast images. Fingerprints are critical…
Certain signalling proteins, which are responsible for the development of innate immune function in almost all animals are also required for the formation of the dorsal-ventral (back-belly) axis in insect embryos. A new study by researchers from the University of Cologne’s Institute of Zoology suggests that the relevance of these signalling proteins for insect axis formation has increased independently several times during evolution. For example, the research team found similar evolutionary patterns in the Mediterranean field cricket as in the…
Battery electrodes, storage devices for gases, and some catalyst materials have tiny functional pores that can accommodate atoms, ions, and molecules. Most battery materials, novel catalysts, and storage materials for hydrogen have one thing in common: they have a structure comprised of tiny pores in the nanometer range. These pores provide space which can be occupied by guest atoms, ions, and molecules. As a consequence, the properties of the guest and the host can change dramatically. Understanding the processes inside…
Here’s why that matters. Climate change is driving some fish into cooler, deeper waters. Now they may be faced with another challenge: how to make sense of a world drained of color. When marine biologist Eleanor Caves of the University of Exeter thinks back to her first scuba dives, one of the first things she recalls noticing is that colors seem off underwater. The vivid reds, oranges, purples and yellows she was used to seeing in the sunlit waters near…
Coronavirus researchers under Prof. Rolf Hilgenfeld of the University of Lübeck and Dr. Albrecht von Brunn of the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich published a research breakthrough in the highly ranked “EMBO Journal”. They discovered how SARS viruses enhance the production of viral proteins in infected cells, so that many new copies of the virus can be generated. Other coronaviruses apart from SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 do not use this mechanism, thereby providing a possible explanation for the much higher pathogenicity of…
Findings of researchers at Mainz University could lead to the creation of new drugs. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany and the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona in Spain have discovered how the blood plasma protein fetuin-B binds to the enzyme meprin β and used a computer model to visualize their findings. These results could lead to the development of new drugs to treat serious diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer. Meprin β releases proteins from…
Protecting the global climate is an undertaking that presents both industry and society with a major task. It will not be possible to achieve the climate targets simply by limiting global emissions, by saving carbon dioxide (CO2). This is because there will continue to be unavoidable CO2 emissions that will nevertheless have to be compensated. Ways out of this unfortunate situation can be measures such as reforestation, carbon sequestration in the soil or even the active capture of CO2 from…
Which catalyst can be used to convert carbon dioxide into other substances? Scientists at TU Wien have now created a new material, which belongs to the class of perovskites. If the CO2 content of the atmosphere is not to increase any further, carbon dioxide must be converted into something else. However, as CO2 is a very stable molecule, this can only be done with the help of special catalysts. The main problem with such catalysts has so far been their…
Making memories involves more than seeing friends or taking photos. The brain constantly adapts to new information and stores memories by building connections among neurons, called synapses. How neurons do this–reaching out arm-like dendrites to communicate with other neurons–requires a ballet of genes, signaling molecules, cellular scaffolding and protein-building machinery. A new study from scientists at Scripps Research and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience finds a central role for one signaling molecule, a long, noncoding RNA that the…
The next time you go for a hike, take an extra moment to appreciate the seemingly ordinary life all around you. A house fly, humble yarrow weed and other “generalist” plants and pollinators play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and may also serve as buffers against some impacts of climate change, finds new University of Colorado Boulder research. The findings, published this month in Ecology, provide valuable insights for prioritizing the conservation of species that contribute to the strength…
Antibodies are not only produced by our immune cells to fight viruses and other pathogens in the body. For a few decades now, medicine has also been using antibodies produced by biotechnology as drugs. This is because antibodies are extremely good at binding specifically to molecular structures according to the lock-and-key principle. Their use ranges from oncology to the treatment of autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative conditions. However, developing such antibody drugs is anything but simple. The basic requirement is for…
COVID-19 needs no introduction. Last year, the disease, which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, reached every continent across the globe. By the end of March 2021, there had been an estimated 128 million cases recorded with almost three million of these being fatal. As scientists’ race to develop vaccines and politicians coordinate their distribution, fundamental research on what makes this virus so successful is also being carried out. Within the Mathematics, Mechanics, and Materials Unit at the Okinawa Institute…
Wastewater carries large quantities of organic substances into the rivers and lakes, leading to heavy growth of bacteria and oxygen deficiency. Measurement methods have so far been incapable of measuring this organic pollution precisely. A new method co-developed by experts from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon should provide a clear image of the water conditions in the future. The work has now been published in the scientific journal Science Advances. When wastewater from villages and cities flows into rivers and lakes, large…
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