Biotechnology News

August 20, 2016

Rewriting the Genome of Living Bacteria

Reinterpreting the Fossil Record on Jaws

Understanding How Fish Fins Became Fingers

Down to the Wire: GM Bacteria Carry Electricity

Latest Headlines

updated 11:24am EDT

Proton Pump Found to Regulate Blood pH in Stingrays

Aug. 19, 2016 — Researchers have discovered the same enzyme used by 'boneworms' to dissolve whale carcasses, and that helps promote photosynthesis in corals, also regulates blood pH in ... read more

'Missing Evolutionary Link' of a Widely Used Natural Drug Source Found

Aug. 19, 2016 — A well-known family of natural compounds, called “terpenoids,” have a curious evolutionary origin. In particular, one question relevant to future drug discovery has puzzled scientists: exactly ... read more

In Cells, Some Oxidants Are Needed

Aug. 18, 2016 — Some studies are showing that reactive oxygen species (ROS) molecules sometimes can aid in maintaining health -- findings now boosted by a surprising discovery from the ... read more

How Norovirus Gets Inside Cells: New Clues

Aug. 18, 2016 — Researchers have identified the protein that norovirus uses to invade cells. Norovirus is the most common viral cause of diarrhea worldwide, but scientists still know little ... read more

Unexpected Complexity in Coral

Aug. 17, 2016 — Scientists used DNA analysis to explore genetic correlation among Japanese ... read more

How Cancer Cells Protect Chromosomes from Decay

Aug. 18, 2016 — Scientists have used CRISPR gene editing technology and live cell, single molecule microscopy to watch in real-time, for the first time, the essential interaction between ... read more

DNA Naturally Fluoresces: Discovery Opens Door for Staining-Free, Super-Resolution Imaging

Aug. 15, 2016 — Scientist shave recently caught DNA doing something that has never been seen before: it ... read more

Unveiled: Earth's Viral Diversity

Aug. 17, 2016 — Plumbing Earth's microbial diversity requires learning more about the poorly-studied relationships between microbes and the viruses that infect them, impacting their abilities to regulate global ... read more

How a Protein Could Become the Next Big Sweetener

Aug. 17, 2016 — High-fructose corn syrup and sugar are on the outs with calorie-wary consumers. As a result, low- and no-calorie alternatives have become popular, and soon, there could be another option that tastes ... read more

Tracing Barnacle's Footprint

Aug. 17, 2016 — In infection diseases, membrane fouling, interaction with bacteria, as well as in rapid healing of wounds for example, the way proteins interact with a surface plays an ... read more

New Drug Aims to Sting Killer Bee Disease

How To Tell If Your Food Is Genetically Modified: It's Complicated

Canine Companions Can Help Baby Big Cats Thrive In Captivity

Peppered Moth's Genetic Secret

TERRA, the RNAs That Protect Telomeres

Aug. 17, 2016 — Despite their especially compact structure that is difficult to access, telomeres transcribe information like the rest of the DNA. The RNAs resulting from this process are called TERRA and their ... read more

New Discovery Increases Understanding of How Plants and Bacteria See Light

Aug. 16, 2016 — Plants, bacteria and fungi react to light with light-sensitive proteins. Scientists have now determined the inner workings of one of these ... read more

The Most Complete Catalog of Proteins in King Cobra Venom Yet

Aug. 15, 2016 — Seven milliliters of a king cobra’s venom can kill 20 people. But what exactly is in the snake’s venom? Researchers have pursued that question for ... read more

Scientists Take Big Step Toward Recreating Primordial 'RNA World' of 4 Billion Years Ago

Aug. 15, 2016 — Scientists have succeeded in creating a ribozyme that can basically serve both to amplify genetic information and generate functional molecules, a big step toward the laboratory re-creation of the ... read more

Expanding the Stable of Workhorse Yeasts

Aug. 15, 2016 — Yeasts are physically hard to distinguish, and it is easy to think they are all the same. Metabolically, genetically and biochemically, however, yeasts are highly diverse. So far industry has only ... read more

Fruit-Fly Diet Impacts Descendants, Researcher Finds

Aug. 15, 2016 — For a fruit fly, what its grandparents ate may affect how much it weighs. But the passing down of a body type based on diet is not a simple cause and effect, a researcher has ... read more

How Antiviral Antibodies Become Part of Immune Memory

Aug. 15, 2016 — Scientists probe activated B cells, important for forming immune memory, during flu vaccination and infection and Ebola infection in humans. Understanding how to elicit these cells is critical for ... read more

New Family of Bacterial Cell Wall Builders

Aug. 15, 2016 — Scientists have discovered that a family of previously overlooked proteins plays a critical role in bacterial cell wall synthesis. The discovery paves the way for the development of novel antibiotics ... read more

A Very Hungry Caterpillar: Researchers Sequence Genome of 'Gluttonous' Tobacco Hornworm

Aug. 15, 2016 — The genome of the tobacco hornworm -- an important model of insect biology -- has now been sequenced by a team of researchers. The sequenced genome can lead to improved molecular biology, physiology ... read more

Discovery of a Unique Subcellular Structure Determining the Orientation of Cell Division

Aug. 12, 2016 — New work has revealed that in the sea squirt embryo, the orientation of the cell division machinery in epithelial cells is controlled by a unique cell membrane structure, which we call an ... read more

Sequencing of Fungal Disease Genomes May Help Prevent Banana Armageddon

Aug. 11, 2016 — Researchers have discovered how a group of three closely related fungal pathogens have evolved into a lethal threat to the world's bananas, whilst scientists have unraveled the DNA of the fungus ... read more

Key Molecular Signal That Shapes Regeneration in Planarian Stem Cells Discovered

Aug. 11, 2016 — Like a magician, the freshwater flatworm known as planaria can survive decapitation or even being cut into many pieces. But the flatworm does not need to rely on trickery. Its remarkable ability to ... read more

Watching Molecular Machines at Work

Aug. 11, 2016 — When one cell divides into two, the newly born daughter cells have to be equipped with everything they will need in their tiny lives. Most important of all is that they inherit a complete copy of the ... read more

Scientists Protect Mice from Gamma Radiation With Deinococcus Elixir

Aug. 8, 2016 — They call it "Conan the Bacterium," and now it may be used to help save lives in the event of a nuclear disaster or terrorist attack. Researchers have discovered a potent manganese ... read more

Frankfurter Fraud: Finding out What's in Your Hot Dog

Aug. 10, 2016 — Hot dogs are a common summer fare. But knowing for sure what you're getting inside a bun can be difficult. Now scientists have devised a method that could help prevent frankfurter fraud, which ... read more

Probing RNA Function With 10,000 Mutants

Aug. 10, 2016 — Creating and examining 10,296 mutants of a ribozyme leads to a better understanding of these widespread but understudied RNA ... read more

Human Selection Pressure on Novel Peptide Aided Domestication of Asian Rice

Aug. 10, 2016 — An international research team identified a novel signal peptide that matures in rice flowers to promote bristle (awn) elongation. The gene encoding this peptide contains a GC-rich region that ... read more

Research Aims to Help Canadian Flax Farmers

Aug. 10, 2016 — A professor's flax research could one day help Canadian farmers grow a car fender. In a recent study, he identified the genes responsible for the bane of many Canadian flax farmers' ... read more

DNA Dominoes on a Chip

Aug. 9, 2016 — Normally, individual molecules of genetic material repel each other. However, when space is limited DNA molecules must be packed together more tightly. This case arises in sperm, cell nuclei and the ... read more

Deer Evolution: Ancient DNA Reveals Novel Relationships

Aug. 9, 2016 — Researchers have sequenced mitochondrial DNA from museum specimens of rare species of deer. Analysis of partial nucleotide sequences has enabled the team to refine our picture of the evolutionary ... read more

Wednesday, August 17, 2016