ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News |
| New study confirms bioengineered RSV protein vaccine evokes protective immune response Posted: 10 Mar 2022 02:08 PM PST Researchers marked a major milestone in the effort to create an effective vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which can cause severe respiratory disease in children and the elderly. |
| Recently discovered protein turbocharges gene expression Posted: 10 Mar 2022 11:37 AM PST Scientists have found intriguing new details about a previously missing critical factor in gene expression. An ancient protein called NDF found in all human tissues enhances gene activation and may be involved in diseases such as cancer. |
| Heat stress for cattle may cost billions by century's end, study finds Posted: 10 Mar 2022 11:37 AM PST Climate change poses a potentially devastating economic threat to low-income cattle farmers in poor countries due to increasing heat stress on the animals. Globally, by the end of this century those producers may face financial loss between $15 and $40 billion annually. |
| Researchers discover genetic cause of sometimes deadly esophageal disorder in dogs Posted: 10 Mar 2022 11:37 AM PST German shepherds are predisposed to congenital idiopathic megaesophagus (CIM), an inherited disorder where a puppy develops an enlarged esophagus that fails to move food into their stomachs. Puppies with the condition regurgitate their food and fail to thrive, often leading to euthanasia. Researchers have now developed a genetic test for the disease that German shepherd dog breeders can use to reduce the risk that puppies in future litters will develop the disease. |
| Addressing knowledge gaps in shark and ray research Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:51 AM PST Sharks and rays are one of the most ancient vertebrate groups, as well as one of the most endangered. Researchers still know very little about many shark and ray species and the environments in which they live, particularly rare species and those that dwell in remote areas, where resources and capacity for conducting study and monitoring are scarce. |
| Hawaiian corals show surprising resilience to warming oceans Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:51 AM PST A long-term study of Hawaiian coral species provides a surprisingly optimistic view of how they might survive warmer and more acidic oceans resulting from climate change. |
| Genetic mechanisms of coral metamorphosis identified Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:51 AM PST Researchers discovered the gene expression regulation mechanisms that drive coral transition from a floating larvae to one that sits sedentary in reefs. |
| Predicting tropical fish patterns in Japan Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:51 AM PST Scientists have developed a model that predicts six tropical fish species will expand into northern parts of Japan as sea temperatures rise. |
| The cellular cleaning program autophagy helps in wound healing Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:51 AM PST Scientists have shown that the recycling program of cells, autophagy, leads to the fusion of several single cells into multinucleated cell units during wound healing. |
| Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:51 AM PST Animals often use highly specific signals to warn their herd about approaching predators. Surprisingly, similar behaviors are also observed among plants. Shedding more light on this phenomenon, researchers have discovered one such mechanism. Using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system, the researchers have shown that herbivore-damaged plants give off volatile chemical 'scents' that trigger epigenetic modifications in the defense genes of neighboring plants. These genes subsequently trigger anti-herbivore defense systems. |
| One step closer to artificial rhino eggs Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:51 AM PST To prevent the extinction of the northern white rhino, researchers are attempting to create artificial egg cells from stem cells. A team has now revealed that they are one step closer to achieving this goal. |
| Exploring ancient tuberculosis transmission chains Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:50 AM PST Tuberculosis (TB) is the second most common cause of death worldwide by an infectious pathogen (after Covid-19), but many aspects of its long history with humans remain controversial. Researchers found that ancient TB discovered in archaeological human remains from South America is most closely related to a variant of TB associated today with seals, but surprisingly these cases were found in people who lived nowhere near the coast. This implies that these cases were not the result of direct transmission from seals, and instead one, or more, spillover events were likely to be the primary drivers of human infection. |
| Rear-end collision on the 'ribosome highway' Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:50 AM PST As a molecular machine found in the cells of all organisms, the ribosome is responsible for making new proteins. For a number of reasons, this process can fail, leaving the ribosome stalled on the mRNA and bringing synthesis of the protein to a halt. An international research team has now identified a bacterial protein called MutS2 that senses and rescues these stuck protein factories. |
| More 'losers' than 'winners' among plants in the age of humans Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:50 AM PST A new analysis spanning more than 86,000 plant species finds that on this human-dominated planet, many more species of plants are poised to 'lose' rather than 'win.' T |
| Seeing lipids more deeply with mass spectrometry Posted: 10 Mar 2022 08:43 AM PST PRMC-MS allows enhanced profiling of phosphoinositide acyl variants both in intracellular and extracellular environments. |
| Eating protein from a greater variety of sources may lower risk of high blood pressure Posted: 10 Mar 2022 06:59 AM PST In a study of nearly 12,200 adults in China, eating protein from a greater variety of sources was associated with a lower risk of developing high blood pressure. This suggests that consuming a balanced diet with a moderate amount of protein from diverse food sources may help prevent new-onset hypertension. |
| Relocating farmland could turn back clock twenty years on carbon emissions, say scientists Posted: 10 Mar 2022 06:59 AM PST Scientists have produced a map showing where the world's major food crops should be grown to maximize yield and minimize environmental impact. This would capture large amounts of carbon, increase biodiversity, and cut agricultural use of freshwater to zero. |
| Posted: 10 Mar 2022 06:59 AM PST Much of a centuries-old debate over where and how new bird species form has now been resolved. Researchers have provided evidence that birds in mountainous areas -- where the vast majority of the planet's species live -- have left lowland habitats for higher and higher mountain elevations throughout their evolution. Millions of years of climatic fluctuations have contributed to pushing bird species upslope -- as is probably happening now. |
| How a virus packages its genetic material Posted: 09 Mar 2022 01:55 PM PST Physics and astronomy professors have developed a theory and performed a series of simulations that may help explain how a virus finds its native genome and how capsids form around it and not around other RNAs in the cell. |
| Non-social jays surprise scientists by learning as skillfully as birds living in groups Posted: 09 Mar 2022 01:55 PM PST The California scrub-jay, a generally non-social bird, can learn just as well as another species of jay that lives in groups, a finding that surprised animal intelligence researchers who devised a novel food puzzle to study cognition in the wild. |
| Caribbean coral reefs have been warming for at least 100 years Posted: 09 Mar 2022 11:09 AM PST A new analysis outlines 150 years of sea-surface temperature history throughout the Greater Caribbean region, highlighting significant warming trends that have disrupted coral reef ecosystems. |
| Office buildings with infrequent water use may have poor water quality Posted: 09 Mar 2022 11:08 AM PST Low-consumption office buildings with infrequent water use could have chemical and microbiological safety issues, according to a new study. The research could have implications for office buildings used less frequently during pandemic lockdowns, and suggests that regular water testing in commercial buildings may be needed. |
| Giant impact crater in Greenland occurred a few million years after dinosaurs went extinct Posted: 09 Mar 2022 11:08 AM PST Danish and Swedish researchers have dated the enormous Hiawatha impact crater, a 31 km-wide meteorite crater buried under a kilometer of Greenlandic ice. The dating ends speculation that the meteorite impacted after the appearance of humans and opens up a new understanding of Earth's evolution in the post-dinosaur era. |
| New twist on an 80-year-old biochemical pathway Posted: 09 Mar 2022 10:18 AM PST With the resurgence of interest in cancer metabolism, researchers are coming to realize that there is more to a cell's biochemistry than once thought. |
| An ‘oracle’ for predicting the evolution of gene regulation Posted: 09 Mar 2022 10:18 AM PST Computational biologists have created a neural network model capable of predicting how changes to non-coding DNA sequences in yeast affect gene expression. They also devised a unique way of representing this data in two dimensions, making it easy to understand the past and future evolution of non-coding sequences in organisms beyond yeast -- and even design custom gene expression patterns for gene therapies and industrial applications. Despite the sheer number of genes that each human cell contains, these so-called 'coding' DNA sequences comprise just 1% of our entire genome. The remaining 99% is made up of 'non-coding' DNA -- which, unlike coding DNA, does not carry the instructions to build proteins. |
| The untapped nitrogen reservoir Posted: 09 Mar 2022 08:11 AM PST A research team elucidates how bacteria use the compound guanidine as a source of nitrogen. |
| Avian secret: The key to agile bird flight is switching quickly between stable and unstable gliding Posted: 09 Mar 2022 08:11 AM PST While it had been assumed that unstable gliding was the key to agility in bird flight, a collaboration between aerospace engineers and biologists has revealed that stability plays a role. |
| Forget mammoths: These researchers are exploring bringing back the extinct Christmas Island rat Posted: 09 Mar 2022 08:10 AM PST Dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, mammoths 4,000 years ago, and the Christmas Island Rat 119 years ago. Since becoming a popular concept in the 1990s, de-extinction efforts have focused on grand animals with mythical stature, but now a team of paleogeneticists has turned their attention to Rattus macleari, and their findings provide insights into the limitations of de-extinction across all species. |
| When ribosomes collide: How bacteria clean up after molecular crashes Posted: 09 Mar 2022 08:10 AM PST Tiny cellular machines called ribosomes build proteins. When this building process goes awry in bacteria, ribosomes collide, triggering the arrival of a first responder molecule that begins a rescue operation. |
| Climate change and lithium mining negatively influence flamingos, study finds Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:45 AM PST Chile's saltwater lake closest to lithium mining activity has lost 10 to 12 percent of its flamingo population in the past 11 years. Although climate change has caused numerous saltwater lakes in the region to shrink, the flamingo population at the other lakes has held steady. As lithium mining increases to supply the metal to electric vehicles and other products, the effect could spread, according to new research. |
| Large mammals can help climate change mitigation and adaptation Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:45 AM PST A new study investigates whether protecting and restoring large animal wildlife can help to support climate change goals. |
| Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:45 AM PST Viruses are tiny but mighty intruders that can be found in the environment including in human bodies, and they can play a variety of roles in ecosystems. Viruses also come in a range of sizes. Some are even larger than bacteria, which scientists thought were rare cases until recently. |
| Global warming combined with other changes in the environment presents 'double whammy' for birds Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:45 AM PST A new study rolls back the curtain on half a century of evidence detailing the impact of climate change on more than 60 different bird species. It found that half of all changes to key physical and behavioral bird characteristics since the 1960s can be linked to climate change. |
| A nanoscale look at coronavirus infection Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:45 AM PST Using super-resolution microscopy, scientists uncovered new details about the location of viral molecules in a cell after coronavirus infection. |
| Beheaded croc reveals ancient family secrets Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:45 AM PST The partially fossilized remains of a giant extinct crocodilian that could have been ritualistically beheaded explain how modern crocodilian species may have evolved. Discovered in southern China, the new species is estimated to have been 6 meters long and the top predator of its environment. Human migration into southern China and subsequent hunting might have driven it to extinction only a few hundred years ago. The discovery may impact knowledge of ancient Chinese civilization. |
| Research sheds light on mysterious messenger RNA modifications Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:44 AM PST A team led by scientists has come a step closer to uncovering the purpose of a distinctive set of modifications found at the beginning of messenger RNA which have long remained a fundamental mystery in molecular biology. |
| Half century of protection pays off for sea turtles Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:44 AM PST Green turtle numbers continue to rise on a group of islands where the species has now been protected for more than 50 years, new research shows. |
| Following rain, desert microbes exhale potent greenhouse gas Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:44 AM PST New research shows how, after it rains, microbes in desert soil convert one form of pollution into another -- laughing gas. |
| Physics and biology explore together the mechanisms of life Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:44 AM PST Each of our cells contains about 40 million proteins that together perform all the tasks the cell needs to survive. For a smooth action, the right proteins must be concentrated in specific amounts, at a specific time and at a specific location. However, establishing such a delicate distribution requires an extremely precise process, happening at tiny spatial resolutions that standard cell biology tools are often unable to detect. To understand how this mechanism works, researchers have developed a new approach combining genetics and cell biology experiments with physical modelling. Using specific algorithms, they simulated the formation of protein gradients in 3D and throughout time and were able to explain these complex mechanisms. Moreover, their innovative model can be adapted to other biology systems to investigate protein dynamics. |
| New study sheds light on early human hair evolution Posted: 09 Mar 2022 07:44 AM PST Researchers have examined what factors drive hair variation in a wild population of lemurs known as Indriidae. Specifically, the researchers aimed to assess the impacts of climate, body size and color vision on hair evolution. |
| Study Confirms SARS-CoV-2 Related Coronaviruses in Trade-Confiscated Pangolins in Viet Nam Posted: 09 Mar 2022 06:07 AM PST A new study confirms that pangolins confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in Viet Nam host SARS-CoV-2 related coronaviruses. |
| New antimicrobial air filters tested on trains rapidly kill SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses Posted: 09 Mar 2022 06:07 AM PST Researchers have developed new antimicrobial technology for air filters which can in seconds kill bacteria, fungi and viruses including SARS-CoV-2 -- providing a potential solution to prevent the spread of airborne infections. |
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