With their rich repertoire of anti-infective substances, medicinal plants have always been key in the human fight to survive pathogens and parasites. The search for herbal drugs with novel structures and effects is still ...
Ecology
May 12, 2020
0
255
In overgrown areas from Canada to China, a lush, woody vine with crescent-shaped seeds holds the secret to making a cancer-fighting chemical. Now, Whitehead Institute researchers in Member Jing-Ke Weng's lab have discovered ...
Biotechnology
Apr 20, 2020
0
44
Unlocking the full potential of cannabis for agriculture and human health will require a co-ordinated scientific effort to assemble and map the cannabis genome, says a just-published international study led by University ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 25, 2020
1
2431
Make some room in the garden, you storied three sisters: the winter squash, climbing beans and the vegetable we know as corn. Grown together, newly examined "lost crops" could have produced enough seed to feed as many indigenous ...
Ecology
Dec 23, 2019
5
725
Tatarinow's aster is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a number of ailments; the plant contains an active ingredient known as astin—and it is this agent which cancer researchers are now investigating. However, ...
Biotechnology
Dec 3, 2019
0
539
Researchers in Brazil have prepared modified forms of the alkaloids produced by Uncaria guianensis, a woody vine native to the Amazon Rainforest.
Biochemistry
Nov 1, 2019
1
46
A team from The University of Manchester have engineered a common gut bacterium to produce a new class of antibiotics by using robotics. These antibiotics, known as class II polyketides, are also naturally produced by soil ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 19, 2019
0
107
The precious chemistry of a plant used for 2000 years in traditional Chinese medicine has been unlocked in a project that raises the prospect of rapid access to a wide array of therapeutic drugs.
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 24, 2019
0
117
A new methodology for comparing herbal medicine across societies can also be used to understand the transfer of cultural traditions.
Plants & Animals
Apr 1, 2019
0
50
The paper mulberry evolved its uniquely fibrous inner bark around 31 million years ago, long before the woody tree was first used for bookmaking during China's Tang dynasty. This adaptation, which makes the nutrient-rich ...
Evolution
Feb 26, 2019
0
29
