Life's building blocks are surprisingly stable in Venus-like conditions: Study
If there is life in the solar system beyond Earth, it might be found in the clouds of Venus. In contrast to the planet's blisteringly inhospitable surface, Venus' cloud layer, which extends from 30 to 40 miles above the surface, hosts milder temperatures that could support some extreme forms of life.
Engineers manage a first: Measuring pH in cell condensates
Scientists trying to understand the physical and chemical properties that govern biomolecular condensates now have a crucial way to measure pH and other emergent properties of these enigmatic, albeit important, cellular compartments.
Potential gene targets for managing cassava whitefly, a viral diseases vector threatening food security
Whiteflies, particularly the African cassava whitefly (Bemisia tabaci, SSA1-SG1), pose a significant threat to agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa by transmitting viruses that cause cassava brown streak disease and cassava mosaic virus disease. In a new study published in PeerJ, Dr. Tadeo Kaweesi and his team at the National Agricultural Research Organization identify potential gene targets that could revolutionize the management of this devastating pest and prove vital for food security in the region.
Creating a toolkit of yeast strains that over-produce key cellular building blocks
Microbes such as bacteria and yeast are increasingly being used to produce components of medicines, biofuels, and food. Indeed, baker's yeast, also known as brewer's yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is responsible for the fermentation process used in making beer or bread, but it is also used at scale to produce other molecules of value for industry.
New method for incorporating structurally unusual amino acids into proteins
A team of biochemists at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge has developed a new method to incorporate structurally unusual amino acids into proteins by using bacteria. The method is described in the journal Nature.
Microbial awakening restructures high-latitude food webs as permafrost thaws
Alaska is on the front lines of climate change, experiencing some of the fastest rates of warming of any place in the world. And when temperatures rise in the state's interior—a vast high-latitude region spanning 113 million acres—permafrost there not only thaws, releasing significant amounts of its stored carbon back into the atmosphere where it further accelerates rising temperatures, but also decays.
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