https://phys.org/biology-news/molecular-computational/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news on molecular and Computational biology In ant colonies, a single ant can be the catalyst for a wave of mob activity, launching brief bursts of coordinated movement involving hundreds or even thousands of swarming workers, according to new simulations from New Jersey Institute of Technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-simulating-ant-swarms-mover.html Ecology Sat, 15 Aug 2026 07:00:03 EDT news705724257 Researchers at the University of Maryland and their collaborators have cloned a gene that makes wheat resistant to feeding by Hessian fly larvae and demonstrated its direct interaction with a protein produced by the insect. The research breaks through a longstanding barrier to understanding and engineering pest resistance in wheat. It is described in a research paper published Aug. 14, 2026, in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-wheat-gene-hessian-fly-resistance.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:20:04 EDT news705936181 Epithelial cells are the tiny shields that line and protect our bodies. In a developing embryo, epithelial cells grow, divide and move into positions to form the outer layers of our skin and the surfaces of our organs and blood vessels. When we scrape our skin, suffer an internal tear or undergo surgery, epithelial cells migrate to the site of injury to heal a wound. And when epithelial cells go haywire, they can turn malignant and spread through the body as cancer. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cells-pulse-malignant-longest.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:40:01 EDT news705932882 A research team led by Director Kim V. Narry at the Center for RNA Research within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has discovered compact viral RNA elements that can make mRNA more stable and increase protein production. These elements could provide a simple way to develop longer-lasting and more efficient mRNA technologies for vaccines and other RNA-based therapeutics. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-stable-rna-elements-possibilities-mrna.html Biotechnology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:20:04 EDT news705931142 A host that sheds an abundance of parasites might seem like an obvious disease-spreading threat. But new research suggests that shedding large volumes of parasites does not dictate transmission efficiency—and "super-shedders" may not be the superspreaders of infectious disease outbreaks. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quality-quantity-super-shedders-superspreaders.html Ecology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705916929 Scientists often describe life as a series of chemical reactions. Pallav Kosuri, Ph.D., describes life as movement. Chemical reactions are how you drive the movement of atoms, proteins, cells and bodies—without movement, there is no life. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-dna-rotor-microscopes-track.html Biotechnology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:40:02 EDT news705921781 Being an elite athlete—at least for a mouse—does not shorten lifespan or limit how many children one can have. This is the finding of a study 30 years in the making, and it runs counter to accepted evolutionary theory. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mouse-assumed-offs-athleticism-fertility.html Ecology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:40:02 EDT news705825983 Designing an effective antibody drug is like searching for the right key in a warehouse of locks. Scientists may begin with millions—or even billions—of antibody candidates, but only a tiny fraction will recognize and bind tightly to the disease target. Identifying those rare candidates has long been one of the biggest challenges in developing antibody medicines. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-biology-antibodies-drug-discovery.html Biotechnology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 05:00:03 EDT news705763776 Scientists have crossed an important line in biological engineering. In a recent study, researchers used artificial intelligence to design complete sets of genetic instructions for bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria. Some of those computer-generated designs produced working viruses when they were built and tested in the laboratory. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-aidesigned-viruses-biosecurity-pace.html Biotechnology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:20:07 EDT news705756534 The DNA of Asian elephants tells a concerning story. Although all four subspecies are under pressure, there are considerable differences in their genetic health. In an article published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution, researchers show how whole-genome analyses can help identify more precisely which populations are most vulnerable and where conservation measures could have the greatest impact. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dna-highlights-genetic-vulnerability-asian.html Ecology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:50:02 EDT news705755261 Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) and RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute (PRI) in Japan, together with collaborators from the University of Münster, Germany, have developed a new hydrogel that offers significant advantages over others currently on the market in the field of biomaterials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-synthetic-peptide-electrically-polarized-hydrogel.html Biotechnology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:00:07 EDT news705755101 The decades-old scientific quest to create brand-new proteins has been turbocharged in the era of artificial intelligence. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-qa-deploying-ai-proteins-nature.html Biotechnology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 13:40:04 EDT news705756123 Scientists at the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC) and the CECAD Cluster of Excellence on Aging Research have demonstrated in a biomedical study that ribosomes, the protein factories of our cells, face an unusually tough challenge when building large, membrane-embedded proteins. When protein synthesis fails, ribosomes recruit quality control factors to eliminate the resulting defective proteins. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quality-proteins-cellular-membrane-ribosome.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:20:04 EDT news705746175 Bumblebees are able to learn to associate new odors with their colony's queen, instead of being preprogrammed to recognize the queen's pheromones from birth, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. For the study, published in the journal Communications Biology, the researchers treated buff-tailed bumblebee queens daily with one of two different floral scents as they built their colonies. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bumblebees-associate-queen.html Ecology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 08:40:03 EDT news705742562 Fluorescent protein imaging is an indispensable tool in life science research, enabling visualization of protein movement and localization, gene expression, signaling pathways, protein-protein interactions and more. For simultaneous analysis of multiple proteins (i.e., multiplex imaging), a variety of fluorescent proteins that emit different colors (blue, green, yellow and red) have been developed. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fluorescence-lifetime-imaging-distinguishes-multiple.html Plants & Animals Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:40:05 EDT news705679441 A new study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scientists reveals critically low genetic variation in one of the country's primary breeding stocks for corn. The finding relates specifically to grain yield in intermediate-maturity hybrids, which dominate commercial production in the U.S. and represent nearly a third of the world's corn production. The researchers say it's a crisis waiting to happen. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-major-genetic-weakness-threatens-future.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:00:04 EDT news705670021 Mitochondria are often called the powerhouses of the cell. But their ancient origins may also make them drivers of inflammation. Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have discovered that proteins released from mitochondria can activate the immune system in a similar way to invading bacteria. The findings suggest that remnants of mitochondria's evolutionary past may contribute to inflammation in infections and autoimmune disorders. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mitochondrial-proteins-trigger-inflammation-mimicking.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:50:01 EDT news705680101 A centromere is a specific region on a chromosome that ensures that, when a cell divides, the chromosome separates accurately so each new cell receives the correct amount of genetic material. Despite their essential role, centromeres remain one of the last major blind spots in the human genome. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-genome-reveals-centromeres-fastest-regions.html Evolution Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:20:02 EDT news705658501 Scientists have long been fascinated by two promising classes of antibiotics that disable RNA polymerase (RNAP). They knew that these drugs could grind gene expression to a halt in several pathogens, including the bacterium behind tuberculosis, by binding to specific locations in RNAP. But despite decades of study, a key question remained: What process are the drugs actually targeting? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-uncover-hidden-mechanism-rna.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:20:01 EDT news705667982 In 1968, the American biochemist and geneticist Marshall Nirenberg and his colleagues won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their work deciphering how an organism's proteins are directly linked to its genetic code. That discovery is considered a "fundamental pillar of molecular biology," explained Nikolai Slavov, a distinguished professor of bioengineering. "It's in every textbook from high school to college." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-humans-highly-abundant-stable-proteins.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:20:02 EDT news705663918 Every morning, groups of birds start singing and chirping around the same time, typically when the sun starts rising. While zoologists have been studying this collective bird behavior, called the dawn chorus, for decades, the factors driving it remain poorly understood. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mathematical-birds-synchronized-dawn-chorus.html Plants & Animals Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news705658583 Humans trust dogs to help find missing people, and bees to pollinate their crops. But scientists still don't fully understand how these animals use their extraordinary sense of smell to locate the source of an odor. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-decoding-reveals-odor.html Ecology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:20:05 EDT news705657481 The genetic diversity of the largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis), a critically endangered ray, has plummeted over the past century and a half, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The species once lived in tropical waters worldwide but has disappeared from much of its former range. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-historical-dna-reveals-largetooth-sawfish.html Ecology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 08:00:04 EDT news705585534 Every living cell, from the simplest bacterium to a human neuron, relies on the same basic machinery to read, interpret, and use its DNA. This molecular machinery is so fundamental that life as we know it cannot exist without it. And because it is so essential, it has long been a target for drugs; it shuts down a bacterium's ability to access its own genes and it quickly dies. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-pathogens-dna-qa-biologist.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 07:00:03 EDT news705641102 When a wound does not heal properly, it leaves a scar. Similarly, mutations—which are permanent changes to genetic code—are often the result of damaged DNA that has not been properly repaired. Mutations can impede the function of genes and lead to disease and aging, but they are also the source of genetic variation, which allows new traits to emerge and facilitates the evolutionary process. Scientists still do not fully understand why some damaged DNA segments are successfully repaired while others are not. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dna-enzymes-favor-specific-sequences.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:40:03 EDT news705595382 Verheij syndrome is a rare genetic disorder caused by the impairment of splicing, a critical process in RNA processing. Using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging have demonstrated that this disruption affects metabolic pathways that rely on vitamin B12. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-vitamin-b12-developmental-defects-verheij.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:20:04 EDT news705581641 Rice University engineers have developed a new strategy for controlling how therapeutic peptides are released from gelatin-based materials, a step that could make the small but powerful molecules more useful in tissue engineering and drug delivery. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-based-strategy-delivery-therapeutic-peptides.html Biotechnology Sun, 09 Aug 2026 07:20:01 EDT news705327575 Every year, millions of migratory birds travel between different geographical regions on Earth to find food, escape cold weather or reach safe environments to raise chicks. To determine which direction to fly, these birds rely on various types of sensory cues and information, including the magnetic field surrounding our planet, known as the geomagnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-pulsed-radiofrequency-magnetic-fields-disorient.html Plants & Animals Sat, 08 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705314676 Researchers led by Sa Kan Yoo at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) in Japan have discovered that the natural turnover of gut cells in fruit flies depends on how much food the flies get, rather than on any specific nutrient. They found that gut cells were replaced more frequently when nutrient levels were low and the insides of gut cells were fluid and watery. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-gut-cells-hunger-watery-insides.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 08 Aug 2026 08:00:01 EDT news705328524 An international research team led by plant scientist Professor Dr. Bart Thomma of the Institute of Plant Sciences at the University of Cologne, the MiBiNet Collaborative Research Center and the CEPLAS Cluster of Excellence for Plant Sciences has identified the region of the genome in the pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae responsible for producing a specific protein that the pathogen secretes during infection. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mobile-fungal-starship-protein-triggers.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 07 Aug 2026 14:40:01 EDT news705321153