23/03/2009

Scientists create new enzymes for biofuel production

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and world-leading gene-synthesis company DNA2.0 have taken an important step toward the development of a cost-efficient process to extract sugars from cellulose--the ...

DNA duplication: A mechanism for 'survival of the fittest'

VIB researchers connected to Ghent University, Belgium, have discovered that DNA duplications have given plants an evolutionary advantage. This mechanism enabled plants -- in contrast to the dinosaurs -- to survive the Cretaceous-Tertiary ...

Early agriculture left traces in animal bones

Unraveling the origins of agriculture in different regions around the globe has been a challenge for archeologists. Now researchers writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report finding evidence of ...

Research links evolution of fins and limbs with that of gills

The genetic toolkit that animals use to build fins and limbs is the same genetic toolkit that controls the development of part of the gill skeleton in sharks, according to research to be published in Proceedings of the National ...

Researchers find the earliest evidence of domesticated maize

Maize was domesticated from its wild ancestor more than 8700 years according to biological evidence uncovered by researchers in the Mexico's Central Balsas River Valley. This is the earliest dated evidence -- by 1200 years ...

Lipid droplets lead a Spartin existence

Spartin, a protein linked to the neuronal disease Troyer syndrome, was thought to function in endocytosis. In the March 23, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, Eastman et al. identify an unexpected role for Spartin ...

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