Sequences reveal benign origin of deadly plant pathogens
...ny deadly genes involved in infection of the plant hosts of Phytophthora. The sequence information shows how Phytophthora most likely evolved from a benign photosynthetic ancestor into a sophisticated, plant-killing machine. Phytophthora belongs to the kingdom Stramenopila, which also includes golden-bro...University of Pittsburgh to host Global Health Conference
...ticipants. In addition to GSPH and LaRoche, other hosts of the conference include Pitt's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and the department of Africana Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences. Several Pittsburgh-based non-governmental humanitarian assistance organizations, including...Study illuminates how the plague bacteria causes disease
...od poisoning "paralyze" the immune system of their hosts in an unexpected way, according to a new study in the September 8, 2006 issue of the journal Cell, published by Cell Press. The researchers found that these bacteria, which belong to the genus Yersinia, harbor a protein that mimics an apparently unr...The sweet science: Viruses switch grip to gain upper hand
...e." Understanding how viruses adapt to different hosts and different tissues could be useful for developing gene therapies, which involve introducing specially engineered genes into a patient's cells via apparently harmless viruses. In cancer treatment, the new genes might be intended to prompt the body'...Field Museum receives $5 million grant from the Grainger Foundation
...The Field Museum through Stanley Field Hall, which hosts lectures, presentations and special performances throughout the year....A new understanding of how cells defend themselves against bacterial pore-forming toxins
...extra water. "Toxins have co-evolved with their hosts for a long time," says Van der Goot. "That makes them good tools with which to study normal cell physiology. This study is a case in point using a toxin, we have the first step in an understanding of how cells can regulate their membranes in order t...Parasitic plants sniff out hosts
...ls produced by other plants and identify potential hosts by their emissions, according to a team of Penn St...le on how above-ground parasitic plants find their hosts from far-off." The researchers looked at Cuscuta pentagona, field dodder or five angle dodder, a pla...Salmon farms kill wild fish, study shows
...total impact of the farms." The primary sea lice hosts are adult salmon. Under natural conditions, the adults are far offshore when the juveniles are migrating out to sea. Fish farms put adult salmon in net pens along the migration routes. The result is a cloud of sea lice through which the juveniles mus...'Failed' experiment yields a biocontrol agent that doesn't trigger antibiotic resistance
...ion that confers some selective advantage to their hosts - such as the ability to resist antibiotics. Plasmids are useful tools for genetic engineering. It is relatively easy for a scientist to alter a plasmid's genetic makeup and then transfer the plasmid into a bacterium. The host bacterium then replic...UA researchers find smallest cellular genome
...s' metabolic capabilities contribute to both their hosts and to biological communities. An organism's genome, its complete complement of DNA, provides the operating instructions for everything the organism needs to do to survive and reproduce. Endosymbiotic bacteria live in an extremely sheltered world...Caterpillars tell us how bacteria cause disease
...ecies worldwide, insects provide a massive pool of hosts for bacterial diseases. The immune system of insects is very similar to the inborn immune system of mammals. By living first in insects some bacteria have evolved to survive immune system attack, so when they invade mammals they are equipped to deal ...NSF, NIH award Ecology of Infectious Diseases grants
...hange; sudden oak death and links among pathogens, hosts and environments; the influence of environmental change on how parasites move through human, invertebrate and environmental pathways; and others. The coincidence of broad-scale environmental changes and the emergence of infectious diseases may point...Your genes may hold key to how sick you get from the flu
...s, she said. Our research looks at the role of the hosts genetic background, an area that has remained largely unexplored. Flu fells some, not others Trammell and Toth infected two strains of laboratory mice with an Influenza A virus. Our previous studies established that if you give the same dose of inf......ude symbiotic bacteria. They seem to provide their hosts with nutrient from a yet unidentified source. But life in these alien environments can also exist without symbionts as Ian MacDonald from Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi US has demonstrated. His observations of the fauna around coastal margin ...10 million people a year are affected by zoonotic viruses spread by non-human hosts
...otic viral diseases spread by non-human vertebrate hosts including dogs, cattle, chickens and mosquitoes - according to a review in the November issue of Journal of Internal Medicine. An estimated 50 million people acquired zoonotic diseases between 2000 and 2005 and up to 78,000 have died, reports Dr J...Winners of the 2006 AAAS Science Journalism Awards
...electrons attached to the posteriors of "Car Talk" hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi; a segment on two Brooklyn brothers whose expertise in supercomputing produced a complex digital analysis of the thread patterns in a unicorn tapestry from the collection of the Cloisters Museum in New York; and a look at a glac...Wielding the subtle weapons of a fungus
...Ustilago has just 33; fungi which simply eat their hosts have well over 100. Ustilago maydis certainly does not present a serious problem to maize farmers, but in recent years it has become a model for other biotrophic fungi, many of which are related to Ustilago maydis. This group of fungi, which also inc...Do These Genes Make Me Look Fat?
...heir impact, the Genetics and Public Policy Center hosts a regular lecture and discussion series in Washington, D.C. called Genetics Perspectives on Policy Seminars - GenePOPS, for short. GenePOPS feature experts from relevant disciplines who come together to share thoughts and answer questions about genet...New finding points way to foiling anthrax's tricks
... these deadly bacteria steal iron from their human hosts to grow and reproduce. "Humans make a protein called siderocalin to defend against bacteria in the continual arms race between pathogen and host. This is the first example of a protein produced by the human immune system that disrupts bacteria's ir...Ocean sampling yields environmental sources of coral symbionts
...ergy. These symbiotic algae are essential to their hosts survival, but many corals must acquire their symbionts anew with the emergence of each generation. However, it has remained unclear how newly settled coral polyps acquire their symbionts in the ocean. Organisms that resemble coral symbiontsdinoflagel...