Plant discovery opens frontiers

University of Adelaide researchers have discovered a biochemical mechanism fundamental to plant life that could have far-reaching implications for the multibillion dollar biomedical, pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology ...

BridgIT, a new tool for orphan and novel enzyme reactions

Effective protein engineering can give us control over the generated products inside a cell. However, for many of the biochemical reactions responsible for these products, we don't we don't know the specific protein or enzyme-producing ...

For zombie microbes, deep-sea buffet is just out of reach

Far below the ocean floor, sediments are teeming with bizarre zombie-like microbes. Although they're technically alive, they grow in slow motion, and can take decades for a single cell to divide—something their cousins ...

Artificially produced cells communicate with each other

Friedrich Simmel and Aurore Dupin, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), have for the first time created artificial cell assemblies that can communicate with each other. The cells, separated by fatty membranes, ...

Chirality in real time

Distinguishing between left-handed and right-handed (chiral) molecules is crucial in chemistry and the life sciences, and is commonly achieved using a method called circular dichroism. However, during biochemical reactions, ...

Plants have a plan for all seasons

Many plants need to avoid flowering in the autumn – even if conditions are favourable – otherwise they would perish in winter.

Paper sensors remove the sting of diabetic testing

A technique that enables biologically active enzymes to survive the rigors of inkjet printing presents a promising alternative to routine blood screening finger jabs for diabetic blood sugar levels. The KAUST-led team used ...

Biggest X-ray laser in the world generates its first laser light

The European XFEL, the biggest X-ray laser in the world, has reached the last major milestone before the official opening in September. The 3.4 km long facility, most of which is located in underground tunnels, has generated ...

10,000 windows onto biomolecular information processing

A Franco-Japanese research group at the University of Tokyo has developed a new "brute force" technique to test thousands of biochemical reactions at once and quickly home in on the range of conditions where they work best. ...

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