Ecosystem health depends on complex relationship between organisms
...quire nutrients from inorganic sources supplied by fungi and bacteria - called decomposers. Decomposers in turn acquire the carbon they need from the producers. The number of species in each group appears to correlate with how well the ecosystem functions, with greater diversity bringing more efficiency, s...International trade imperils U.S. plants, animals and crops
...hat some 1,500 new insects and 50 new pathogens -- fungi or bacteria -- will make their way into the United...the quality of rangeland for grazing cattle, while fungi and insects plague both croplands and forest trees. A recent arrival is the Asian long-horned beetle...New genes protect trees from insects, disease
... Michigan Tech are transferring altered genes into fungi that facilitate the flow of nutrients through tree...ored" genes to impart desired characteristics into fungi that live symbiotically with tree roots can ultimately help trees grow faster and live healthier liv...Pouch's newfound role tied to potential new treatment for malaria
...y compartment called the volutin granule in yeast, fungi and bacteria was thought to be a storage granule with no active function. University of Illinois scientists, however, have found that the granule is really an organelle -- a live vacuole (a subcellular pouch) with a membrane and active enzymes -- an...UC Davis expert identifies oak-tree killer and warns public to use caution
...orests, a UC Davis plant scientist said today. The fungi move around by spores that can easily travel in infected wood and soil, on bicycle and car tires, hikers' shoes and animals' feet, said UC Davis plant pathologist David Rizzo. Rizzo is a member of the University of California Oak Research Team that w...Rice research another step forward for green revolution
...ith other types to slow down the movement of blast fungi through the field. The results amazed researchers. The yield losses to blast in glutinous varieties of rice dropped an average of 94 percent. The losses in non-glutinous varieties dropped by 25 percent the first year of the experiment and by 55 perce...Fossils from a Wisconsin roadcut show clearly that fungi and green plants moved from water onto land at about the same time, bolstering the theory that fungi helped plants successfully invade the land. The newly discovered fossils - microscopic spores and th...Defense Department awards Stanford nearly $5.3 million for a 'revolutionary' biosciences project
...t organisms: zebrafish, fruit flies, Streptomyces fungi and the Caulobacter bacterium. "In essence," says McAdams, "we are working toward determining how every gene affects the quantitative activity of every other gene in each species. We believe the methods and insights developed by electrical engineers...Whitehead Institute receives National Science Foundation grant to sequence Neurospora
...y to understanding the biology of a broad range of fungi and will contribute to understanding the biology of many other organisms." The Whitehead researchers, with collaborators at the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology, the University of Kentucky and the Fungal Genetics Stock Center ......agents. Depending upon nutrient availability, many fungi are able to switch between two different morpholog... may not sound familiar, but the effects of these fungi certainly are. Well known to any farmer, Ustilago maydis is the cause of corn smut disease. Cryptoc...Scientists find that grasslands can act as 'carbon sinks'
...dicated that under elevated carbon dioxide levels, fungi become a more dominant part of the microbial community, which is also conducive to protecting soil carbon from decomposition. At the same time, the research indicates that the extent of carbon buildup in the grassland soil may be limited, because the...Dangerous beauty: Fungal flowers offer clues to biofilm formation on medical implants
...medical Research have found a key gene that allows fungi to stick to plastic surfaces and form thin coating...ork represents a key step toward understanding how fungi stick to plastic and offers hope that it may be possible to prevent such infections in the future." ......ree of life for everything, from bacteria to bats, fungi to flowering plants. NSF director Rita Colwell calls Deep Green one of the best investments the foundation has made, Mishler said. Mishler and four colleagues will brief reporters Feb. 16 at 11 a.m. about the accomplishments of Deep Green and its pro......ls, which originate in tropical plants, to inhibit fungi and bacteria and repel biting and stinging insects, the worst enemy of sleeping birds. Butterflies and moth caterpillars are known to sequester their defense from toxic plants; Rodriguez' research shows that vertebrates, including birds and poisonous...Oily fossils provide clues to the evolution of flowers
...mon flowering plants as a defense against insects, fungi and various microbial invaders. But the chemical is absent in other seed plants, such as pines and gingkoes. Using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy, Moldowan and his colleagues have been able to extract molecules of oleanane trapped in oily r...Researcher finds that important fungal "scaffolding" genes belong to one of four classes
...to be agents of disease in humans and animals. All fungi come in one of two basic forms, molds or yeasts. M...ng. The genus Aspergillus consists of filamentous fungi that can cause disease depending on the condition of their host. People undergoing chemotherapy or t...Small streams important in controlling nitrogen
... Oregon and North Carolina, nitrogen is removed by fungi and bacteria, which do not photosynthesize, but de...mpled water, algae and other plant life, bacteria, fungi and insects for six weeks at each site. "This study provided clear, controlled methods across all of...Wood preservation: stopping termite destruction and making safer wood preservatives
...ally friendly preservatives whose ability to fight fungi (wood rot) and insects is enhanced by the addition of antioxidants and metal chelators. (The paper on this research, CELL 123, will be presented at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, April 5, in the San Diego Convention Center, Room 11A.) • Liam E. ......in that they grow as a branching hyphae similar to fungi as they gather nutrients from the soil. S. coelicolor has attracted considerable interest as a model organism and serves as a guide for the study of strains that make important therapeutics. The result is a new genetic postal system that will al......n as cellulase, which are found in some species of fungi and bacteria, break chemical bonds between glucose sub-units that make up cellulose. Fermentation of the glucose completes the conversion of cellulose to ethanol, Danna said. Because the organisms that synthesize such enzymes are difficult to grow i...