Scientists studying the biochemistry of plant cell walls have identified an enzyme that could turn woody poplar trees into a source for producing a major industrial chemical. The research, just published in Nature Plants, ...
Biochemistry
Aug 5, 2021
1
1323
Enzymes play essential roles in the cells of every living thing, from bacteria, to plants to people. Some do their jobs a few times and fizzle out. Others can repeat a task hundreds of thousands of times before they quit.
Biotechnology
Mar 22, 2021
1
1458
The oldest living organism on Earth is a plant, Methuselah a bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) that is over 5000 years old. Conversely, animals only live up to a few hundred years. Can we learn something from plants about ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 18, 2019
1
195
Because plants can't get up and run away, they've had to be clever instead. They are the chemists of the living world, producing hundreds of thousands of small molecules that they use as sunscreens, to poison plant eaters, ...
Biochemistry
Jun 26, 2017
2
615
Life has always played by its own set of molecular rules. From the biochemistry behind the first cells, evolution has constructed wonders like hard bone, rough bark and plant enzymes that harvest light to make food.
Nanophysics
Oct 4, 2016
0
32
Plant scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have found that certain enzymes responsible for desaturating fatty acids, the building blocks of oils, can link up to efficiently pass intermediate ...
Biotechnology
May 9, 2014
0
1
Scientists studying an enzyme that naturally produces alkanes—long carbon-chain molecules that could be a direct replacement for the hydrocarbons in gasoline—have figured out why the natural reaction typically stops after ...
Biochemistry
Feb 4, 2013
0
0
(Phys.org) -- A group of biology researchers, led by Akhilesh Reddy from Cambridge University have found an enzyme that they believe serves as a circadian clock that operates in virtually all forms of life. In a paper published ...
(Phys.org) -- As plants began to transition from aquatic habitats to dry land some 500 million years ago, their needs changed. Those primitive ancestors of modern plants were ill-equipped to survive in a dry, sunlight-blasted ...
Biotechnology
May 13, 2012
0
1
The nation's Renewable Fuels Standard calls for annual production of 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022. One of the biggest hurdles to achieving this goal lies in optimizing the multistep process involved in breaking down ...
Biotechnology
Oct 2, 2011
0
0
