https://phys.org/biology-news/ en-us Phys.org provides the latest news on biology, evolution, microbiology, biotechnology Although immune responses are generated by a complex, hierarchical arrangement of immune system organs, tissues, and components, the unit of the cell has a particularly large effect on disease progression and host survival. These cell-level defense mechanisms, known as cell-autonomous immunity, are among the most important determinants of human survival, and are millions to billions of years old, inherited from our prokaryotic and single-celled ancestors. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-cell-autonomous-immunity-pathogen-mediated-evolution-humans.html Evolution Cell & Microbiology Fri, 04 Sep 2020 12:42:52 EDT news518442168 If you have any children in your life, imagine for a moment that they don't look anything like their parents, they don't eat anything humans normally eat, and they're active only while adults sleep. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-big-tadpoles-frogs-complicated.html Plants & Animals Fri, 04 Sep 2020 11:21:15 EDT news518437268 Researchers have discovered how a protein in plant roots controls the uptake of minerals and water, a finding which could improve the tolerance of agricultural crops to climate change and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-protein-discovery-fertilizer.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Fri, 04 Sep 2020 11:09:05 EDT news518436542 A new application of the CRISPR/Cas molecular scissors promises major progress in crop cultivation. At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), researchers from the team of molecular biologist Holger Puchta have succeeded in modifying the sequence of genes on a chromosome using CRISPR/Cas. For the first time worldwide, they took a known chromosome modification in the thale cress model plant and demonstrated how inversions of the gene sequence can be undone and inheritance can thus be controlled specifically. The results are published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-inheritance-specifically.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 04 Sep 2020 10:10:07 EDT news518430719 Autophagy, from the Greek for "self-eating," is an essential process that isolates and recycles cellular components under conditions of stress or when resources are limited. Cargoes such as misfolded proteins or damaged organelles are captured in a double membrane-bound compartment called the autophagosome and targeted for degradation. A fundamental question concerns precisely how these "garbage bags" form in the cell. Scientists led by Sascha Martens from the Max Perutz Labs, a joint venture of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna, have now reconstructed the first steps in the formation of autophagosomes. They show that tiny vesicles loaded with the pro-tein Atg9 act as the seed from which the autophagosome emerges. The study is published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-scientists-reveal-key-formation-recycling.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 04 Sep 2020 09:31:15 EDT news518430672 A team of researchers from Chile, Hungary, and Spain has created a model to show the factors that can result in heat death in multiple species of fruit flies. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes using established mathematical models to predict heat death under different scenarios and comparing it with heat tolerance data from prior research efforts. Raymond Huey and Michael Kearney with the University of Washington and the University of Melbourne, respectively, have published a Perspective piece in the same journal issue outlining the work by the team in this effort. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-death-fruit-flies-due-climate.html Ecology Fri, 04 Sep 2020 09:29:24 EDT news518430557 Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have developed a unique method for precisely controlling the deposition of hydrogel, which is made of water-soluble polymers commonly used to support cells in experiments or for therapeutic purposes. Hydrogel mimics the extracellular matrix – the natural environment of cells in the body. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-coaxing-stem-cells-specialized.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 04 Sep 2020 09:15:42 EDT news518429739 Some male butterflies go to extreme lengths to ensure their paternity—sealing their mate's genitalia with a waxy "chastity belt" to prevent future liaisons. But female butterflies can fight back by evolving larger or more complex organs that are tougher to plug. Males, in turn, counterattack by fastening on even more fantastic structures with winglike projections, slippery scales or pointy hooks. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-butterfly-sexes-males-deploy-chastity.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 15:37:39 EDT news518366254 If naked mole-rats were human, they would be prescribed hearing aids. With six mutations in genes associated with hearing, naked mole-rats can barely hear the constant squeaking they use to communicate with one another. This hearing loss, which is strange for such social, vocal animals, is an adaptive, beneficial trait, according to new findings published in the journal Current Biology. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-loss-naked-mole-rats-advantage-hardship.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 15:06:40 EDT news518364387 Researchers at the University of California, Davis and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, U.K. have solved the the structure of the complex formed when mRNA is being scanned to find the starting point for translating RNA into a protein. The discovery, published Sept. 4 in Science, provides new understanding of this fundamental process. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-protein-mrna-complex-insight-cancer.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 14:00:01 EDT news518337847 A study led by researchers from Tasmania, Chile and Germany has furthered our understanding of plant evolution by tracking the origins of electrical signaling components that plants developed to communicate and adapt to life on land. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-cells-tracking-evolution-electrical.html Plants & Animals Evolution Thu, 03 Sep 2020 12:25:03 EDT news518354699 Gene therapy generally relies on viruses, such as adeno-associated virus (AAV), to deliver genes into a cell. In the case of CRISPR-based gene therapies, molecular scissors can then snip out a defective gene, add in a missing sequence or enact a temporary change in its expression, but the body's immune response to AAV can thwart the whole endeavor. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-immune-response-gene-therapy-effective.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 12:18:22 EDT news518354295 New research reveals current understanding of safe antibiotic levels in rivers may not prevent evolution of antibiotic resistance and fully protect human health. The study suggests the need to introduce thresholds to help fight the spread of resistant bacteria. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-safe-thresholds-antibiotics-sewage-combat.html Ecology Cell & Microbiology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 11:00:08 EDT news518334119 The ability for humans to digest milk as adults has altered our dietary habits and societies for centuries. But when and how that ability—known as lactase persistence or lactose tolerance—occurred and became established is up for debate. By testing the genetic material from the bones of people who died during a Bronze Age battle around 1,200 BC, an international team of scientists including Krishna Veeramah, Ph.D., of Stony Brook University, suggest that lactase persistence spread throughout Central Europe in only a few thousand years, an extremely fast transformation compared to most evolutionary changes seen in humans. Their findings are published in Current Biology. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-reveals-lactose-tolerance-quickly-europe.html Evolution Other Thu, 03 Sep 2020 11:00:06 EDT news518334771 Search teams looking for human remains are often slowed by painstaking on-foot pursuits or aerial searches that are obscured by forest cover. In a Science & Society article appearing September 3 in the journal Trends in Plant Science, the authors discuss utilizing tree cover in body recovery missions to our advantage, by detecting changes in the plant's chemistry as signals of nearby human remains. Though the impact of human decomposition on plants has not yet been thoroughly explored, the researchers outline the steps needed to make body recovery using vegetation more of a reality. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-dead-bodies-forensic-botanists.html Plants & Animals Other Thu, 03 Sep 2020 11:00:04 EDT news518343238 Old male elephants play a key role in leading all-male groups, new research suggests. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-males-vital-elephant-societies.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 11:00:01 EDT news518335265 To date only the length of the legendary giant shark Megalodon had been estimated but now, a new study led by the University of Bristol and Swansea University has revealed the size of the rest of its body, including fins that are as large as an adult human. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-true-size-prehistoric-mega-shark-revealed.html Plants & Animals Thu, 03 Sep 2020 10:28:52 EDT news518347727 A new technology that uses a protein's structure to predict the inner wiring that controls the protein's function and dynamics is now available for scientists to utilize. The tool, developed by researchers at Penn State, may be useful for protein engineering and drug design. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-tool-enables-key-functional-sites.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 10:25:03 EDT news518347501 On the evolutionary tree, humans diverged from yeast roughly 1 billion years ago. By comparison, two seemingly similar species of bacteria, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, have been evolving apart for roughly twice as long. In other words, walking, talking bipeds are closer on the tree of life to single-celled fungi than these two bacteria are to one another. In fact, it's becoming increasingly clear that what is true of one bacterial type may not be true of another—even when it comes down to life's most basic biological pathways. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-scientists-runaway-transcription.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 09:49:47 EDT news518345377 Researchers have resolved a longstanding biological debate by revealing the existence and function of complex RNA structures in plants. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-reveals-rna-g-quadruplex-nature.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 07:56:16 EDT news518338574 In light of emerging evidence showing how a commonly used class of insecticides can spread through the environment to pollinators, predators and other insects they are not intended to kill, researchers are warning about the potential for widespread environmental contamination. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-food-web-threats-common-insecticides.html Ecology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 04:00:40 EDT news518324437 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has prioritized finding effective treatment of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), one of the most common bacterial pathogens and the single most deadly drug-resistant bacteria in the United States. Now, a new study led by Dartmouth Engineering faculty shows promise for an engineered lysin-based antibacterial agent that may enable safe, repeated dosing to treat life-threatening infections by MRSA and other types of S. aureus. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-team-treatment-drug-resistant-bacterial-infections.html Biotechnology Thu, 03 Sep 2020 03:51:12 EDT news518323865 Cat owners fall into five categories in terms of their attitudes to their pets' roaming and hunting, according to a new study. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-cat-owner.html Plants & Animals Veterinary medicine Thu, 03 Sep 2020 03:36:05 EDT news518322961 You might need a microscope to witness the next agricultural revolution. New research, published in the journal Science Advances, demonstrates how microfluidic technologies can be used to identify, isolate and propagate specific single photosynthetically active cells for fundamental industry applications and improved ecosystem understanding. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-technology-photosynthetic-cells.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 02 Sep 2020 14:00:10 EDT news518260969 Like humans, bacteria live together in communities, sometimes lending a hand—or in the case of bacteria, a metabolite or two—to help their neighbors thrive. Understanding how bacteria interact is critical to solving growing problems such as antibiotic resistance, in which infectious bacteria form defenses to thwart the medicines used to fight them. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-unprecedented-discovery-cell-fusion.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 02 Sep 2020 12:28:05 EDT news518268481 House sparrows can be found on nearly every continent including North America, South America, Africa and Australia, where they are not native but an invasive species. New research into these highly social songbirds reveals that they can learn from each other and adapt their behavior. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-birds.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 02 Sep 2020 12:27:34 EDT news518268451 As introduced species spread around the world, the complex networks of interactions between plants and animals within ecosystems are becoming increasingly similar, a process likely to reinforce globalization's imprint on nature and increase risks of sweeping ecological disruption. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-globalization-reweaving-web-life.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 02 Sep 2020 12:26:38 EDT news518268394 Radiocarbon dating of five large and potentially old sessile oaks from Aspromonte National Parks has revealed a long lifespan ranging from 934 ± 65 to 570 ± 45 years. For a long time, majestic oaks have been considered a symbol of longevity, and this study proves that a millennium age horizon is attainable longevity in angiosperms growing at high-elevation belt in Mediterranean mountains of South Italy. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-oldest-radiocarbon-dated-temperate-hardwood.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 02 Sep 2020 12:20:01 EDT news518078122 Since antiquity, cultures on nearly every continent have discovered that certain plant leaves, when chewed or brewed or rubbed on the body, could relieve diverse ailments, inspire hallucinations or, in higher dosages, even cause death. Today, pharmaceutical companies import these once-rare plants from specialized farms and extract their active chemical compounds to make drugs like scopolamine for relieving motion sickness and postoperative nausea, and atropine, to curb the drooling associated with Parkinson's disease or help maintain cardiac function when intubating COVID-19 patients and placing them on ventilators. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-reprogram-yeast-cells-microscopic-drug.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 02 Sep 2020 11:00:05 EDT news518246298 Researchers from McGill University have revealed the steps by which two very distinct organisms—bacteria and carpenter ants—have come to depend on one another for survival to become a single complex life form. The study, published today in Nature, shows that the two species have collaborated to radically alter the development of the ant embryo to allow this integration to happen. Understanding how such grand unifications originate and evolve is a major puzzle for biologists. Ehab Abouheif, a biologist and senior author on the paper believes that these insights may lead to a better understanding of the origin of complex organisms. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-complex-life-revealed.html Evolution Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 02 Sep 2020 11:00:04 EDT news518246180