The complete respiratory supercomplex identified

For the first time, researchers from Aarhus University and their international colleagues have found a complex of proteins that contains the four central components for optimised energy production. This discovery is of great importance for understanding how life has optimised basic processes in different ways, and at the same time, it lays the foundation for analyses towards the development of drugs against parasitic organisms.

The giant faba bean genome decoded

Faba bean is a key protein source for tomorrow’s plant-based foods. So far, its extremely large and complex genome has been impossible to characterize, hampering faba bean improvement. Now, researchers have finally decoded the giant faba bean genome.

Nature's nutcracker can crush pesticide residue

Highly non-degradable chemicals such as PFAS and pesticides can have useful properties in some situations, but are be extremely difficult for nature to remove afterwards. Now researchers from Aarhus University have found that certain bacteria use an enzyme that acts as a molecular nutcracker to crush the harmful substances.

AUSBI - the Aarhus University Structural Biology & Biophysics Initiative

An interactive network of structural biologists/biophysicists across many disciplines and departments that investigate molecular structure and dynamics using biophysical methods and often collaborate.

Researchers aim at developing self-fertilizing crops

Researchers from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Aarhus University take part in an international research network, ENSA, which focuses on improving nutrient uptake by plants to reduce the need for fertilizer. The network has just received a total grant of USD 35 million from Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations program, of which Aarhus University receives USD 4 million.

An innovative approach reveals a novel strategy for engineering root nodule symbiosis into important crops for more sustainable agri-food systems

Researchers from Aarhus University have now discovered the receptor complex crucial for initiating symbiotic signaling in legume plants that engage in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. In the study published in Science, the researchers describe a novel technique using nanobodies to investigate and activate receptor complexes. Surprisingly, the technique also identified barley receptors with a similar function. This opens a new perspective for more sustainable agri-food systems by engineering root nodule symbiosis into important crops using their own genes.

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