'Bacteria-eating' viruses may spread some infectious diseases
... center plays with a toy, puts it in her mouth and crawls away. Another child plays with the same toy and comes down with strep. Until now, scientists thought that disease-causing bacteria left on the toy was the culprit in transferring the disease from the first child to the second. New research at The Roc...Study finds that fungus farming by snails causes marsh grasses to wither
...y grazes a live salt-marsh cordgrass. As the snail crawls along the grass surface, it scrapes grass tissue with its band of saw-like teeth and creates longitudinal cuts in leaf surfaces, making a much larger meal possible. While it travels, the snail also deposits feces laden with fungal spores and nutrient...Ability to smell food regulated by enzyme's interaction with RNA interference pathway
... finding food. When placed near food a normal worm crawls quickly to the food but an ADAR mutant may crawl in a completely different direction. To see if ADAR functions were related to the RNAi pathway, Bass and Tonkin made strains of the worm with mutations in both the ADAR genes and in genes required for ......nt-feeding pests, of the order, Acarina. The mite crawls slowly and depends almost entirely on wind for movement. Mature wheat is no longer suitable as a food source, so the mite stands on its tail end to catch an air current and ride to a new, fledgling host. Dr. Jerry Michels, Experiment Station e...