Despite confinement, crop genes can spread fast to wild
...ape of transgenes - genetic information from other organisms that's artificially inserted into crop plants to make them more resistant to pests, herbicides or climate conditions. The findings, published in the March issue of Ecology Letters, show a high probability that leakage can occur much sooner than expec...Study in worms shows how genes linked to complexity in animals
...ion becomes more complicated, it might tell us how organisms became increasingly complex."...Discovery could lead to better treatment for cryptosporidum infections
... Striepen. The ability to pick up genes from other organisms by "gene transfer" is well known in bacteria (and ...at these parasites collect useful genes from other organisms can help us to understand how they could adapt so well to a parasitic lifestyle," said Striepen. "Fr...Mouth microbes may help shape immune system, says Stanford research team
...group is also expecting to publish a study soon on organisms previously not known to play a role in human disease. Relman's lab is collaborating with biochemistry professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Patrick Brown, MD, PhD, on developing microarrays - glass slides carrying thousands of DN...JCI table of contents, 16 February 2004
...ells and surviving sepsis Sepsis the presence of organisms in the blood is a common and life-threatening disease for which there is little treatment. Mast cells play a role in protecting the host during infection by secreting the cysteine protease dipeptidyl peptidase I (DPPI). To examine the role of DDPI i...Flies offer clues to anesthesia-resistant memory
... the effects of anesthesia. With the help of model organisms such as Drosophila, different types of memory are also now beginning to be identified on the basis of genetic requirements. This week, new analysis of a fly gene required for anesthesia-resistant memory sheds light on the nature of this memory type, ...'Evo-devo' biology tackles evolutionary history's unanswered questions
...understanding to the evolution of humans and other organisms by uniting fossil data and information about the genes that control development. Major historical questions about the origin of multicellular animals, the Cambrian radiation and the origins of animal larvae can now be addressed using evo-devo's mech...Rutgers researcher offers a new perspective on human evolution
... scientists before. "Primates are not ideal model organisms for developmental genetics and embryology because ...ative genomics and molecular embryology with model organisms provide the foundation on which to build innovative studies of genotype-phenotype relationships in h...Anthrax spores can germinate, grow and reproduce in soil
...st. During the AAAS symposium on how environmental organisms cause disease, Hanna described what happened when he seeded soil samples with anthrax spores, added water and let the mixture incubate in the laboratory. "All stages of the anthrax life cycle were found to occur in soil, including germination of spo...Structure solved by Scripps scientists shows one way that body controls gene expression
... Regulation of gene expression in humans and other organisms is a crucial part of biology, and biology has a large repertoire of mechanisms for turning genes on and off. Many of the proteins encoded by genes in human and other genomes specialize in regulating other genes, often in complicated feedback mechanis...Report details growing climate change threat to coral reefs
...bleaching events are likely to eliminate sensitive organisms and reduce biodiversity. Elevated water temperatur...g block of calcium carbonate that corals and other organisms use to grow their skeletons and build up the reefs. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, which w...It's a stirring tale of bacteria
...ible to naked eye. In a bacterial ballet, the tiny organisms seemed to be moving through the fluid of the dish in coordinated fashion, almost like flocking in birds or schooling in fish. "We all looked at this and said, 'Oh my goodness, why is this happening?' We were all surprised. We are still surprised," sa...Money talks: Concern for biodiversity pressed on boardrooms by new breed of fund managers
...ent systems, human rights and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are increasingly common social screens, with corporate governance expected to become a formal SRI screen in the near future. The concept of "sustainability" is another emerging screen type increasingly developed among fund companies and portfo...Symposium focuses on unique challenges of environmental pathogens
...nderstanding of the environmental ecology of these organisms to limit human exposure to infectious disease and ...re not professional human pathogens, many of these organisms cause devastating diseases, such as cholera or Legionnaire's disease, which can affect large populat...Major boost for European zebrafish research
...ent years it has become one of the favourite model organisms of academic scientists and the biotech industry, and deciphering of its genome is already underway. In the face of strong transatlantic competition, the European Commission has now decided to boost European zebrafish research by making it a flagship...Social life-history response to individual immune challenge of workers of Bombus terrestris
Solitary organisms can minimise fitness loss from parasitism with a facultative change to an earlier reproduction. Such a shift of the reproductive effort gives the host a chance to compensate for the cost on future reproduction resulting from the infection. In the cas...Scientists report first sequencing of environmental genome
...mes of the most abundant members of a community of organisms - not one at a time, but simultaneously. The resea...ding our environment, allowing us to determine how organisms work as individuals and together, and how they contribute to geochemical processes." Banfield and gr...Microbial biofilm yields community genomes, metabolic clues
...nd metabolism. While researchers are unsure which organisms are responsiblefor creating some key polymers, they found within theLeptospirillum strain-but not in the Ferroplasma strain-thegenes for making cellulose and other proteins that preventdrying out and support floatation. The genetic foundation ofother...UN report: Accelerate global agreement to oversee exploitation of South Pole 'extremophiles'
...anies to discover and stake ownership to promising organisms and compounds with genetic properties that make su...genetic and biochemical riches of "extremophiles," organisms that have evolved unique characteristics to survive in Earth's most hostile environments. Many scien......ue for Listeria, so it also could be used by other organisms to take advantage and get inside a host cell to cause disease." Bacteria have proteins, called ligands, that bind with a protein molecule, or receptor, on cells in the body, which is like placing a key in a lock. This interaction opens the door that ...