Cell & Microbiology news

Researchers find cells move in mysterious ways

Researchers find cells move in mysterious ways (w/ Video)

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 5 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Our cells are more like us than we may think. They're sensitive to their environment, poking and prodding deliberately at their surroundings with hand-like feelers and chemical signals as they decide whether ...


Bacteria wouldn't opt for a swine flu shot

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 10 hours ago | popularity 1 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Bacteria inhabited our planet for more than 4 billion years before humans showed up, and they'll probably outlive us by as many eons more. That suggests they may have something to teach us.


Marking of tissue-specific crucial in embryonic stem cells to ensure proper function

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 11 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Tissue-specific genes, thought to be dormant or not marked for activation in embryonic stem cells, are indeed marked by transcription factors, with proper marking potentially crucial for the function of tissues derived from ...


Looking for the heartbeat of cellular networks

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created 11 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Our cells' molecules form an intricate network of interactions. Today's techniques, however, can only be used to measure individual molecular reactions outside the cells. Since molecular concentrations are much higher in ...


New Bacterial Behavior Discovered

New Bacterial Behavior Discovered

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria dance the electric slide, officially named electrokinesis by the USC geobiologists who discovered the phenomenon.


Penn researchers find reproductive germ cells survive and thrive in transplants, even among species

Researchers find reproductive germ cells survive and thrive in transplants, even among species

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Reproductive researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have succeeded in isolating and transplanting pure populations of the immature cells that enable male ...


Muscling in on a mystery protein: Study of brawny pigs reveals key player in the genome

Muscling in on a mystery protein: Study of brawny pigs reveals key player in the genome

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- For thousands of years, humans have bred pigs for desirable traits, such as more muscle and less fat in the meat. Domestication makes animals ideal models for studying how genes control physical ...


'Rock-breathing' bacteria could generate electricity and clean up oil spills

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (7) | comments 1

A discovery by scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) could contribute to the development of systems that use domestic or agricultural waste to generate clean electricity.


Antagonistic genes control rice growth

Antagonistic genes control rice growth

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Scientists at the Carnegie Institution, with colleagues, have found that a plant steroid prompts two genes to battle each other—one suppresses the other to ensure that leaves grow normally in rice and the ...


DNA needs a good editor: Researchers unravel the mysteries of DNA packaging

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Imagine a huge spool of film containing thousands of sequences of random scenes. Without a talented editor, a screening would have no meaning.


Introns: A mystery renewed

Introns: A mystery renewed

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

The sequences of nonsense DNA that interrupt genes could be far more important to the evolution of genomes than previously thought, according to a recent Science report by Indiana University Bloomington and ...


Only a small number of so-called giant viruses have been discovered, the first in 1993 by accident

New giant virus discovered

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 09, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (18) | comments 8

Scientists in France have isolated a new giant virus that lurks inside amoeba and whose gene pool includes genetic material from other species.


Newly identified enzymes help plants sense elevated CO2 and could lead to water-wise crops

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Biologists have identified plant enzymes that may help to engineer plants that take advantage of elevated carbon dioxide to use water more efficiently. The finding could help to engineer crops that take advantage of rising ...


Foodborne Staph Toxin Pinpointed by New Assay

Foodborne Staph Toxin Pinpointed by New Assay

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Most people need about two days to recover from being sickened by foods contaminated with what's known as staphylococcal enterotoxin A, or "SEA." Produced by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, ...


Flies like us: They can act like addicts, too

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

When given the chance to consume alcohol at will, fruit flies behave in ways that look an awful lot like human alcoholism. That's according to a study published online on December 10th in Current Biology that is one of the ...