'Speechless' and 'Mute' help break the silence of the leaves
...hem from losing too much moisture. The leaves and stems of land plants are dotted with the "tiny mouths," called stomata. When open, stomata allow the plant to take in carbon dioxide gas needed for photosynthesis and allow moisture to evaporate, pulling water from the roots into the plant. But when too mu...Tumor-suppressor gene is critical for placenta development
...ests that Rb is important in maintaining placental stems cells, and that it plays a smaller or different role in the cells they give rise to," Leone says. Lastly, the researchers produced transgenic mice that lacked both the Rb gene and a second gene, E2f3. The Rb protein normally couples with, or binds ...USC study in Nature Genetics supports a stem cell origin of cancer
... Laird, "is to culture and differentiate embryonic stems cells cells that would then be placed into patients. Since our research shows that cancer is rooted in stem cells, it would be very important to screen for the epigenetic abnormalities that we uncovered, so as to prevent people from receiving poten...Jefferson researchers uncover new way nature turns genes on and off
... dangerous type of childhood leukemia. The disease stems from gene rearrangements in utero. MLL, the gene that is affected in humans, corresponds to Trithorax in fruit flies. "ALL is thought to be a disease of misregulated HOX genes," says Dr. Mazo. HOX gene groups have long been known to be "transcriptio...Biological clock of honey bee more similar to humans than to insects
...one day." The critical role of the circadian clock stems from its influence on many processes, such as time of alertness and fatigue, activity rhythms, cyclic changes in body temperature and the secretion of hormones. Bees rely on the biological clock for timing visits to flowers when nectar and pollen f...Diversity promotes cooperation among microbes
...of evolutionary biology's thorniest problems. This stems from the fact that freeloading cheats will evolve to exploit any cooperative group that doesn't defend itself, leading to the breakdown of cooperation. New research using the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens has identified a novel mechanism that thw...Naked mole-rat unfazed by oxidative stress
... team suspects that the naked mole-rat's longevity stems from its ability to defend against acute bouts of oxidative stress. That is, the kind of oxidation that happens because of an unusual occurrence rather than the kind that happens as a result of normal aerobic respiration. For example, when hydrogen...Of rice and hen: Fashions from the farm
...abric concepts to date. Rice straw consists of the stems of the rice plant that are left over after rice grains are harvested. Like cotton and linen, rice straw is composed mostly of cellulose. Using a special combination of chemicals and enzymes, a process that is now under patent review, Yang and Redd...Designer babies - what would you do for a 'healthy' baby?
...ple assume that the very notion of designer babies stems from the desire of prospective parents for their children to be healthy," said Dr. Hampton. "However, the picture is complicated by the shifting meaning of 'healthy' and confusion about when the manipulation of children's physical, psychological or...Mitochondrial DNA sequencing tool updated
...rowing area of scientific interest. This interest stems from data that suggests natural sequence variations and/or mutations in each person's mitochondrial DNA could be biologically informative in fields as diverse as cancer diagnostics, gerontology, and criminal forensics. According to Dr. Joseph Califa...Unusual data shed new light on brain and inhibiting behavior
...aying much of a role in the signaling of the brain stems in younger children," he said. So how do the new findings fit into the group's overall research? It is believed that for cerebral palsy patients the development of the cortex will be delayed well beyond childhood. Thus eye movements and focusing al...Invasive species alter habitat to their benefit
...r nutrient levels and heavier mats of dead cattail stems than areas with only native wetland plants. The pl... in the second she added litter---the mats of dead stems that accumulate around hybrids. A third plot received both live hybrids and litter, and the fourth w......sian curvature. This improved range of performance stems from increasing the independent shear modulus, which imparts sufficient torsional rigidity to stabilize against perturbations in the deformed state. It is also shown that the range of bistable configurations for initially twisted shells generally dim...UF study sheds light on cystic fibrosis-related diabetes
...ed, interfering with proper digestion. The disease stems from a faulty gene that blocks the normal passage of salt and water through the body's cells. It is this gene deficiency that is proposed to cause insulin-producing cells to malfunction, Stalvey said. About 30,000 Americans have cystic fibrosis, ma...Speeding discovery of the 'human cancer genome'
...anges are functionally relevant." The difficulty stems from the fact that studies that scan the genomes of human tumors for differences typically find hundreds to thousands of genes that distinguish cancer and noncancer. Some of those differences are at the root of the cancer, while others are what Lo...Social factors not hormones cause PMS, post-natal depression and menopausal stress
.... Our research has shown that their distress often stems from women trying to do too much for everyone- except themselves," says Professor Ussher. "The tags pre-menstrual syndrome, post-natal depression (PND) and menopause, have become catch-all diagnostic categories that attribute women's unhappiness to t...Molecular censusing doubles estimate of key giant panda population
...he conservation movement worldwide. Its attraction stems in part from its elusive nature: A wary creature with an unusual dietary dependence on bamboos, it is now found only in a restricted mountainous region in China. These characteristics have also shielded important knowledge needed to save the panda fr...Fear circuit flares as bipolar youth misread faces
... results also suggest that bipolar disorder likely stems from impaired development of specific brain circuits, as is thought to occur in schizophrenia and other mental illnesses." Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies have shown that, unlike in adults with the illness, the amygdala is consistently small...Research highlights how bacteria produce energy
...ut much more biomass in the whole plant, including stems and leaves, can be converted to ethanol using clea...uce the enzymes, known as cellulases, to break the stems and leaves down into the simple carbohydrates for fermentation. Bacteria can not only produce alter......h drug-carrying nanotubes or nanoparticles. "Nano" stems from nanotechnology, the fast-growing science of making objects or devices that approach molecular dimensions. One nanometer equals one-billionth of a meter. The approach makes sense for attacking diseased cells while bypassing healthy ones, but it a...