Bitter taste identifies poisons in foods
...s have long assumed that bitter taste evolved as a defense mechanism to detect potentially harmful toxins in plants. The Current Biology paper provides the first direct evidence in support of this hypothesis by establishing that variants of the bitter taste receptor TAS2R38 can detect glucosinolates, a clas...Distinguishing friend from foe in the battle against cancer
...ack because they couldn't activate a major line of defense mediated by the Nuclear Factor kappa B, known as NF-kB, which triggers both inflammatory and survival responses by inducing transcription of specific genes. Not only did this explain why TSC null cells are vulnerable to insult, but it also provided...Plants give up answers in the war on bacteria
...f Cell, redefines the role of the plant's pores in defense against invading bacteria and how some bacteria ca... on the behavior of one the plant's first lines of defense against disease. Pores called stomata are like tiny mouths that open and close during photosynthesis...Environmental toxins may cause body's defenses to worsen lung disease
...nmental toxicants can stimulate the body's natural defense system to cause additional damage in people with chronic lung diseases. Michael Borchers, PhD, believes long-term exposure to certain environmental toxicants may activate a specific receptor--known as NKG2D--in lung cells that causes the immune sys...After insects attack, plants bunker sugars for later regrowth
...or Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, focus on the defense of plants against attack from herbivores. Plants r...essler and Baldwin, 2001). Yet even such a complex defense system does not guarantee the plants TM survival. Therefore the plants have developed ways of toler...Genome info from 'plant destroyers' could save trees, beans and chocolate
...es are being driven to evolve by pressure from the defense systems of the pathogens' host plants," said Virginia Bioinformatics Institute's Brett Tyler, the project's principal investigator. "The Phytophthoras, in addition to their great economic importance, are fascinating organisms with very distinct and ...DOE JGI, VBI describe disease mechanisms of sudden oak death, related soybean pathogens
... that enable them to evade or suppress the plant's defense responses during infection and later produce gene ...es are being driven to evolve by pressure from the defense systems of the pathogens' host plants," said VBI Professor Brett Tyler, the project's coordinator an...Sugar metabolism tracked in living plant tissues, in real time
...tic because of interference from the plants' virus defense mechanisms, as well as high background fluorescenc...ng them in mutant Arabidopsis plants with disabled defense genes. The fluorescent tags worked well where they had failed before. "It may not be ideal to use...Study shows how cancer drug aids anti-cancer virus
...nd macrophages, which are the body's first line of defense against infections. The virus and drug cannot be...the immune cells that are the body's first line of defense against the virus, perhaps by using this drug."...Trap-jaw ants have fastest recorded strike in animal kingdom
...spin rate of 36 revolutions per second for bouncer defense jumps. Study co-author Andrew Suarez, assistant ...nts use their jaws for both capturing prey and for defense is a notable example of multi-functionality. The trap-jaw ant, like other ants, initially used its m...Rapid-fire jaws propel ants to safety
...h vertically, the horizontal ranges of the bouncer defense jumps averaged seven times greater than escape jumps. "These propulsive behaviors may be especially important given that O. bauri builds nests in leaf litter, rather than below ground," the researchers write. "Without the subterranean strongholds t...Draft environmental impact statement prepared for USAMRIID facilities at Fort Detrick
...capabilities to support government-wide biological defense efforts by acting as the DoD's lead laboratory for the testing and evaluation of medical biological defense products. Environmental analyses of the Proposed Action and alternatives evaluated land use, clima...Mussels evolve quickly to defend against invasive crabs
...g their shells. Freeman looked at the inducible defense shell thickening of blue mussels (Mytlius edulis) in the presence of two invasive crab species in New England, the Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus and the green crab Carcinus maenas. While Carcinus was introduced to New England from Europe ...Defense peptide found in primates may block some human HIV transmissions
...us develops only weak resistance to retrocyclin, a defense peptide still found in monkeys and lower primates. If additional laboratory tests demonstrate only weak resistance, Cole will study how retrocyclin could be developed into a drug designed to prevent the HIV virus from entering human cells. Cole i...Meth promotes spread of virus in HIV-infected users
... dendritic cells, which serve as the first line of defense again pathogens, and two receptors on these cells -- HIV binding/attachment receptors (DC-SIGN) and the meth-specific dopamine receptor. Dendritic cells overloaded with virus due to the action of methamphetamine can overwhelm the T cells, the major t...Role of protein in immune response may aid HIV research
...of proteins that serve as the body's first line of defense against bacterial infections may provide a lifelin...e in defending the body from infection, mounting a defense long before the body's main immune system responds. The IU School of Medicine Northwest scientists...UC Riverside researchers show how the brain turns on innate behavior
...behavior or those related to aggression, escape or defense are programmed in the brain, and all are laid down in the genome. We found that not only do steps involved in innate behavior match exactly with discrete activities of the neurons in the brain but also that specific groups of peptide neurons are act...Science reporters' top challenges include finding photos and well-spoken researchers
...ditors may be more inclined to take an interest in defense and national security issues. According to reporters who took part in the EurekAlert! survey, non-U.S. editors and producers were more likely than their U.S. counterparts to push for stories on evolution and archeology. As part of the survey, repo...JCI Table of Contents: July 13, 3006
...cRn, through it's ability to secrete IgG, provides defense against infection by the gut bacterium Citrobacter rodentium. Animals that lacked FcRn were sensitive to Citrobacter rodentium infection. The ability to clear Citrobacter was associated with significant enhancement of the adaptive immune response in ......n targets a plant protein that serves as a line of defense against illness, said Kinya Nomura, a researcher i...er. "The bacteria targets and disables a plant's defense protein, so they can get in and multiply," Nomura said. "It's a very nice strategy for bacteria, ver...