Tuned gels reveal molecules that drive stem cell differentiation

By monitoring stem cell differentiation on gels that mimic the stiffness and nanofibrous structure of biological tissue, researchers have identified the specific molecules that stem cells use when selecting bone and cartilage ...

Secrets of a rice-killing fungal toxin

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Sciences (CSRS) have discovered the enzyme needed for synthesis of tenuazonic acid (TeA), a well-known toxin that is produced by multiple types of fungus and affects ...

Real-time analysis of metabolic products

Biologists at ETH Zurich have developed a method that, for the first time, makes it possible to measure concentration changes of several hundred metabolic products simultaneously and almost in real time. The technique could ...

Dirty, crusty meals fit for (long-dormant) microbes

In deserts and other arid lands, microbes often form very thin top layers on soil known as biocrusts, which behave a bit like Rip Van Winkle. He removed himself from a stressful environment by sleeping for decades, and awoke ...

Decoding the chemical vocabulary of plants

Plants spend their entire lifetime rooted to one spot. When faced with a bad situation, such as a swarm of hungry herbivores or a viral outbreak, they have no option to flee but instead must fight to survive. What is the ...

Less toxic metabolites, more chemical product

The first dynamic regulatory system that prevents the build-up of toxic metabolites in engineered microbes has been reported by a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). ...

New imaging technique captures ever-changing world of metabolites

(Phys.org) —What would you do with a camera that can take a picture of something and tell you how new it is? If you're Berkeley Lab scientists Katherine Louie, Ben Bowen, Jian-Hua Mao and Trent Northen, you use it to gain ...

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