Credit: Salk Institute
LA JOLLA (February 1, 2021)
Wolffia, also known as duckweed, is the fastest-growing plant known, but the genetics underlying this strange little plant s success have long been a mystery to scientists. Now, thanks to advances in genome sequencing, researchers are learning what makes this plant unique and, in the process, discovering some fundamental principles of plant biology and growth.
A multi-investigator effort led by scientists from the Salk Institute is reporting new findings about the plant s genome that explain how it s able to grow so fast. The research, published in the February 2021 issue of
Genome Research, will help scientists to understand how plants make trade-offs between growth and other functions, such as putting down roots and defending themselves from pests. This research has implications for designing entirely new plants that are optimized for specific functions, such as increased carbon storage to help address climate change.
American scientists receive the 2021 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
FRANKFURT am MAIN. Two American scientists, Bonnie L. Bassler and Michael R. Silverman, receive the 2021 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, which is endowed with 120,000 €.
Bassler is Professor at Princeton University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Michael R. Silverman is Emeritus Professor of the Agouron Institute in La Jolla.
The two researchers are honoured for their ground-breaking discoveries concerning bacterial quorum sensing , which refers to sophisticated systems of cell-to-cell communication that bacteria use to coordinate group behaviors.
The award ceremony in St. Paul s Church, which is traditionally held on March 14, Paul Ehrlich s birthday, has been postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Instead, Bassler and Silverman will receive the award at the ceremony in 2022.
CRISPR-Based Cancer Cell Lineage Tracing Offers Insights into Drivers of Metastasis
January 22, 2021
Source: Science Photo Library - Moredun Animal Health Ltd/Getty Images
A new CRISPR-based method for tracing real-time cancer progression across thousands of cells has revealed novel insights into the rates, routes, and drivers of cancer metastasis. Using the lineage-tracing technique, Whitehead Institute member Jonathan Weissman, PhD, and colleagues were able to treat cancer cells in much the same way that evolutionary biologists might look at species, mapping out an intricately detailed family tree. The approach allowed the authors to generate phylogenies and follow the movement of metastatic human cancer cells over several months of growth and dissemination, in a lung cancer xenograft mouse model.
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IMAGE: Researchers studied the genes on the sex-specific chromosomes of three species of snakes, including the five-pacer viper (left), the pygmy rattlesnake (center) and the mountain garter snake (right) for clues. view more
Credit: Western Pygmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius streckeri), image by Peter Paplanus from St. Louis, Missouri, Western terrestrial garter snake (Thamnophis elegans terrestris) in San Luis Obispo County, California, by Bill Bouton
Sex-specific chromosomes are a dangerous place to be, if you re a gene. Because these chromosomes Y chromosomes, in humans do not have a matching chromosome with which to exchange genetic information, they are prone to losing non-essential genes left and right in a process called genetic decay.
Study improves understanding of the chemistry behind potent antibiotic synthesis
Images of a protein involved in creating a potent antibiotic reveal the unusual first steps of the antibiotic s synthesis. The improved understanding of the chemistry behind this process, detailed in a new study led by Penn State chemists, could allow researchers to adapt this and similar compounds for use in human medicine.
The antibiotic thiostrepton is very potent against Gram-positive pathogens and can even target certain breast cancer cells in culture. While it has been used topically in veterinary medicine, so far it has been ineffective in humans because it is poorly absorbed. We studied the first steps in thiostrepton s biosynthesis in hopes of eventually being able to hijack certain processes and make analogs of the molecule that might have better medicinal properties. Importantly, this reaction is found in the biosynthesis of numerous other antibiotics, and so the work has the potential to be