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Saving ocean habitats with newer genomic technologies

In an essay published on October 17th, 2022 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, Madeleine van Oppen of the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the University of Melbourne and Melinda Coleman of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries argue that genetic and genomic technologies have tremendous potential for protecting marine life but are currently underutilized.

20 Oct 2022

Dual threat may lead cyanobacteria to take in more carbon

The types of ocean bacteria known to absorb carbon dioxide from the air require more energy – in the form of carbon – and other resources when they're simultaneously infected by viruses and face attack from nearby predators, new research has found.

19 Oct 2022

Large 'omics' dataset reveals a year in the biological life of Arctic Ocean

A major new project will help benchmark biodiversity change in the Arctic Ocean and guide conservation efforts by identifying unique species and assessing their extinction risk.

18 Oct 2022

Delicate strategy employed by pathogens to suppress pyroptosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB), continues to be a major infectious threat to global public health.

18 Oct 2022

High-quality chromosome-level reference genome for A. gigantea

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, Aldabra giant tortoises are in danger of extinction, which means the species stands a high risk of extinction in the wild.

14 Oct 2022

Genetic speciation method to make new hybrid species

The evolution of a new species by hybridization from two already described species without a change in chromosome number is very rare in the animal kingdom.

12 Oct 2022

Discovery and characterization of a new antifungal compound

Antimicrobial resistance has prompted scientists to search for novel compounds everywhere. A multinational group of European scientists reports the discovery of solanimycin, a novel antifungal antibiotic.

12 Oct 2022

Insights into the evolution of banana domestication

People on the island of New Guinea are said to have domesticated bananas 7,000 years ago. However, the history of banana domestication is convoluted, and their categorization is widely discussed, as the boundaries between species and subspecies are frequently ambiguous.

10 Oct 2022

Genome of domesticated banana varieties contains traces of three unknown ancestors

Bananas are thought to have been first domesticated by people 7,000 years ago on the island of New Guinea.

10 Oct 2022

Broadening the scope of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing systems

A group of Northwestern University researchers has created a novel gene editing platform that might influence the future application of a nearly infinite library of CRISPR-based therapeutics.

7 Oct 2022

Genomic research helps in tackling the fatal complications of fungal infections

An important genetic discovery made by a research team led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst scientist sheds new light on the application of the drug caspofungin to treat the deadly fungal infection Aspergillus fumigatus, which claims the lives of about 100,000 severely immunocompromised individuals every year.

7 Oct 2022

Multi-institutional project aims to deepen the understanding of a versatile bioenergy crop

Principal Investigator, Andrea Eveland, Ph.D., associate member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, will lead a multi-institutional project to deepen the understanding of sorghum, a versatile bioenergy crop, and its response to drought.

6 Oct 2022

Making synthetic biology applications feasible using RNA origami

Synthetic biology aims to acquire comprehensive control over biological functions to produce designer organisms for a range of commercial, diagnostic, and therapeutic uses.

6 Oct 2022

New insight into human genome evolution

Researchers discovered that in one out of every 4,000 births, some of the genetic code from the mitochondria—the “batteries” that power human cells—inserts itself into the DNA, giving a startling new insight into how humans evolve.

6 Oct 2022

Genomics-informed pre-breeding strategy for wheat improvement

IPK Leibniz Institute was able to test its vast collection of old wheat varieties for their yield performance and resistance to yellow rust not only in the lab but also in field trials.

5 Oct 2022

Newly isolated Bacteroides likely to be present in mammals beyond mice

In the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1182 “Origin and Function of Metaorganisms,” scientists from Kiel University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön (MPI-EB) are investigating the evolutionary history and function of Bacteroides.

From The Max Planck Institute 30 Sep 2022

“Junk” DNA could provide access to innovative treatments for neurological conditions

The breakthrough study from the University of Sheffield’s Neuroscience Institute and Healthy Lifespan Institute offers critical new insights into the so-called junk DNA, or DNA that was previously believed to be unimportant to the coding of the genome, and how it affects neurological disorders like Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and Alzheimer’s.

29 Sep 2022

Highly effective and safe Zika vaccine technology

Scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered a Zika vaccine technology that is very safe and effective in preclinical mouse models.

29 Sep 2022

New insights into the regulatory mechanisms of cell fate decisions

The Babraham Institute’s Reik lab’s study has improved the understanding of the function of DNA methylation during the early stages of development.

29 Sep 2022

Genome of the earliest common ancestor of all mammals identified

From a platypus to a blue whale, all living mammals today are derived from a single ancestor that existed around 180 million years ago. Although nothing much is known about this species, an international team of experts has now computationally rebuilt how its DNA is organized.

From The University of California, Davis 28 Sep 2022