A research team from the Nanjing Agricultural University, China, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany, showed that isothiocyanates produced by cruciferous plants to fend off pests serve as oviposition cues. The plant defense substances serve as odor signals for females of the diamondback moth to lay their eggs on these plants. The scientists identified two olfactory receptors whose sole function is to detect these defense substances and to guide the moths to the ideal oviposition sites. They…

Despite all recent progress, cancer remains one of the deadliest human diseases. In a new publication that appeared in the journal Cell, researchers from Jürgen Knoblich’s lab at IMBA – Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences – found a very surprising and unexpected connection between the formation of tumors and mitochondria, the power house of the cells, that allows neural stem cells that normally build our brain to become deadly tumor cells. Worldwide, cancer is the…

As a side effect of their metabolism, microorganisms living on methane can also convert ammonia. In the process, they produce nitric oxide (NO), a central molecule in the global nitrogen cycle. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen (DE), and Radboud University, Nijmegen (NL), now discovered the enzyme that produces NO, closing an important gap in our understanding of how methanotrophs deal with rising environmental ammonia concentrations. Some microorganisms, the so-called methanotrophs, make a living by oxidizing…

University of Illinois biophysicists use Frontera supercomputer to study the formation and behavior of biological condensates. The world inside the human cell grew a bit more interesting in recent years as the role of a new biological structure became clearer. It was long believed that most important operations in the cell occur within organelles. “They’re there to do certain functions. For instance, mitochondria generate the energy that everything runs on,” explained Aleksei Aksimentiev, a professor of physics at the University…

Kiel researchers, together with an international team, present a nematode model system as the basis for comprehensive microbiome research All multicellular living beings are colonized by an unimaginably large number of microorganisms and have evolved together with these microbial symbionts from the beginning. The natural microbiome, i.e. the entirety of the bacteria, viruses and fungi that live in and on a body, is of central importance for the entire organism: it supports, for example, the absorption of nutrients, fends off…

TU Freiberg develops new model for pyroelectric reactions Pyroelectricity is a phenomenon in physics in which heat can be converted into electricity via certain crystals or into a voltage that can be used for chemical reactions. While the first application is already used in devices such as motion detectors today, the second application, although well-known, has not yet been sufficiently described on a theoretical basis. A team of physicists at TU Bergakademie Freiberg has now found a way to describe…

Researchers from CeMM Research Center of Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Medical University of Vienna and Stanford University School of Medicine, have found that a module of the immune system, which is best known for causing allergic reactions, plays a key role in acquiring host defense against infections triggered by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. This “allergy module”, constituted by mast cells and Immunoglobulin E, can grant protection and increased resistance against secondary bacterial infections in the…

Light-sensing technology promises to make COVID-19 antibody testing cheaper, easier, faster and more accurate. Robust and widespread antibody testing has emerged as a key strategy in the fight against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. However current testing methods are too inaccurate or too expensive to be feasible on a global scale. But now, scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have developed a rapid, reliable and low-cost antibody test. The device, described…

Scientists from the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a new spectroscopic-microscope, which can be used to observe a single nanoparticle in real time. This enabled the first detection of a nanoparticle’s handedness while it is freely moving in solution. The results of their research paves the way for optical measurements with high detection sensitivities down to single molecules and in samples of ultra-low volumes. Almost all biomolecules, including sugars,…

With life expectancy increasing, age-related diseases are also on the rise, including sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass due to aging. Researchers from the University of Basel’s Biozentrum have demonstrated that a well-known drug can delay the progression of age-related muscle weakness. Already in our best years, our muscles begin to shrink and their strength dwindles. Unfortunately, this is a natural part of aging. For some people, the decline in muscle mass and function is excessive. This condition, called sarcopenia,…

Organoid-related discovery may also help drug makers screen potential pharmaceuticals. Scientists who were working on a way to determine the viability of batches of tiny liver organoids have discovered a testing method that may have far broader implications. Their study published Sept. 7, 2020, in Nature Medicine, reports identifying a “polygenic risk score” that shows when a drug, be it an approved medication or an experimental one, poses a risk of drug-induced liver injury (DILI). The work was conducted by…

Researchers discover how messenger RNAs transport information to where photosynthesis takes place. In photosynthesis, solar energy is converted into chemical energy, which is then used in nature to produce organic molecules from carbon dioxide. In plants, algae and cyanobacteria, the key photosynthesis reactions take place in two complex structures known as photosystems. These are located in a special membrane system, the thylakoids. However, many details of their molecular structure and the way the proteins are incorporated into the membranes have…

Researchers study the speed and precision of signal transductions in the brain / Study published in Nature Communications Researchers at Münster University have discovered that glial cells – one of the main components of the brain – not only control the speed of nerve conduction, but also influence the precision of signal transduction in the brain. The research results have been published in the journal Nature Communications. For the brain to work efficiently, it is important that a nerve impulse…

Fibroblast growth factor 1 effects on specific brain cell types, and on nets that enmesh neurons, inform how it restores blood sugar levels to normal in diabetic animals. In rodents with type 2 diabetes, a single surgical injection of a protein called fibroblast growth factor 1 can restore blood sugar levels to normal for weeks or months. Yet how this growth factor acts in the brain to generate this lasting benefit has been poorly understood. Clarifying how this occurs might…

Hundreds of innovators, research pioneers, clinicians, industry leaders and policy makers from all around Europe are united by a vision of how to revolutionize healthcare. In two publications – a perspective article in the journal Nature and the LifeTime Strategic Research Agenda – they now present a detailed roadmap of how to leverage the latest scientific breakthroughs and technologies over the next decade, to track, understand and treat human cells throughout an individual’s lifetime. The LifeTime initiative, co-coordinated by the…

A research team led by zoologist Dr Amy MacLeod has been using drones to count marine lizards on the Galapagos Islands. The aim of the Leipzig University project is to determine the colony sizes of this vulnerable species and, with the help of volunteers, to precisely locate them – in order to ultimately be able to better protect the iguanas. A recent study on marine iguanas also shows that many of the proteins found in the secretions of special glands…