News tagged with plant enzymes

Resident bats use pitcher plant as toilet

(PhysOrg.com) -- The pitcher plants are carnivorous species that usually feed on insects and small vertebrates, but one species has been found that prefers to dine on the feces of bats.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 27, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (14) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report

Solving a traditional Chinese medicine mystery

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered that a natural product isolated from a traditional Chinese medicinal plant commonly known as thunder god vine, or lei gong teng, and used for hundreds of ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 03, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New CO2-removing catalyst can take the heat

(Phys.org) -- The current method of removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) from the flues of coal-fired power plants uses so much energy that no one bothers to use it. So says Roger Aines, principal ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 19 | with audio podcast

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 ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 23, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (9) | comments 3

Group finds circadian clock common to almost all life forms

(Phys.org) -- A group of biology researchers, led by Akhilesh Reddy from Cambridge University have found an enzyme that they believe serves as a circadian clock that operates in virtually all forms of life. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 8 | with audio podcast report

Blood Enzyme Could Help Realize Clean Coal

(PhysOrg.com) -- An enzyme in our blood that enables our lungs to exhale carbon dioxide could be the key to isolating carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants in order to store them safely underground. A ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 0 weblog

Potential industrial and agricultural uses of echinacea trump health claims

Echinacea has been used for hundreds of years as an herbal remedy to prevent or treat colds, and today it is among the most commonly used herbal medicines in North America. However, in spite of its popularity, ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jun 29, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 2

First wood-digesting enzyme found in bacteria could boost biofuel production

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Warwick researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-led Integrated Biorefining Research and Technology (IBTI) Club have identified an enzyme in bacteria ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jun 09, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Plant enzyme's origins traced to non-enzyme ancestors

(Phys.org) -- As plants began to transition from aquatic habitats to dry land some 500 million years ago, their needs changed. Those primitive ancestors of modern plants were ill-equipped to survive in a dry, sunlight-blasted ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 13, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Green' plastics could help reduce carbon footprint

More than 20 million tons of plastic are placed in U.S. landfills each year. Results from a new University of Missouri study suggest that some of the largely petroleum-based plastic may soon be replaced by a nonpolluting, ...

Chemistry /

created Feb 11, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Cows may hold the key to greener fuels

Scientists in Scotland are turning to cows and the tiny organisms and enzymes found in their stomachs for a potential way to create industrial products such as biofuels from plant waste and plan to unveil their ideas at a ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Jul 29, 2011 | popularity 3.2 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast weblog

Newly identified enzymes help plants sense elevated CO2 and could lead to water-wise crops

Biologists have identified plant enzymes that may help to engineer plants that take advantage of elevated carbon dioxide to use water more efficiently. The finding could help to engineer crops that take advantage of rising ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

New discoveries upend traditional thinking about how plants make certain compounds

Michigan State University plant scientists have identified two new genes and two new enzymes in tomato plants; those findings led them to discover that the plants were making monoterpenes, compounds that help give tomato ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 26, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Snaring bigger bugs gave flytraps evolutionary edge

(PhysOrg.com) -- Carnivorous plants defy our expectations of how plants should behave, with Venus flytraps employing nerve-like reflexes and powerful digestive enzymes to capture and consume fresh meat.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 26, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Popping the Cork on Biofuel Agriculture

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a novel enzyme responsible for the formation of suberin -- the woody, waxy, cell-wall substance ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 19, 2009 | popularity 2.8 / 5 (4) | comments 3