How to survive a drought
Forgot to water your plants? Don’t worry as they will be fine for a week or two, thanks to their efficient hormones and proteins. Though scientists knew that plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) played critical roles in drought response, the key factors and regulatory proteins remained unclear. Now scientists from Japan have discovered that a protein called NGA1 is the crucial factor as it controls transcription of a key gene and helps the plant survive the drought.
Computer aids cancer study
Published in Nature Communications
Researchers from Broad Institute, USA have released an upgraded, open source software tool, DEMETER2, that can help identify the different genes the cancer cells need to survive. The researchers say that this new approach can help locate vulnerabilities in the cancer genome and the insights can help in finding new drug targets and in developing novel drugs.
Bioreactor lends a helping hand, literally.
Image for representational purposes only
Regenerating a lost limb in vertebrates has been an impossible task and now scientists from the US have made a huge leap. They 3D-printed a wearable bioreactor that can deliver drugs (progesterone) to the severed hind limbs and induce partial regeneration. They demonstrated the feat in African clawed frogs. Treating for just 24 hours induced the regeneration of paddle-like structures, and the researchers hope that this can lead to the development of new cell-stimulating therapies.
Decoding bacterial toxins
Using hi-tech cryo-electron microscopy studies, scientists from the Max Planck Institute, Germany have now shown the 3D structure of bacterial toxins and the exact mechanism of how they enter the host cells. The poison complex has different sub units and just like how a needle and syringe works, the toxic protein kept in a shell is injected through the cell membrane when conditions are conducive. Decoding these mechanisms will help understand human-pathogenic bacteria and aid in developing new treatments.
Pharmaceutical pollution: From prey to predator
Published in Nature Communications
Foam flowing in river Thirumanimutharu in Salem, Tamil Nadu
By eating stream insects, a platypus living in a creek could receive the equivalent of half of a recommended human dose of antidepressants every day, points out a new study that highlights pharmaceutical pollutants and its effect on aquatic animals. The study carried out in Melbourne, Australia showed that over 50 different pharmaceutical compounds were found in the tissues of aquatic insects and in spiders that live along the river bed. The researchers say that more studies are needed to understand the ecological impacts.
