PLANT DNA YIELDS CLUES
A closer look common weeds and their mutants might provide clues to salt stress in plants and HIV in humans -- says Hisashi Koiwa, a horticulturist at Texas A&M University. High salt levels are found in one-third of the world's cropland and that means reduced yields. "With Arabidopsis (a common weed), we know that there is a mechanism to 'pump out' salt from a cell, or move it from a critical part to a less critical part," Koiwa said. His focus is the natural ability of two different Arabidopsis varieties to move around salt which "may answer many questions as to why some crops are more salt sensitive than others," he said. Similar work may yield answers from plants for HIV research in humans, Koiwa added. Mutant studies show genes of four CTD phosphatase-like regulators -- AtCPLs -- in plants, whereas humans have only one. Targeting CTD in humans is a proposed defense mechanism to prevent HIV from multiplying. Koiwa has located two Arabidopsis mutants for AtCPL genes and different behavior of the two mutants implies each have different functions. "So we have to ask, why does a plant have four and a human only one," he said.
DIAMOND FILM KEY TO SENSORS
A diamond film developed by chemists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison could be a key part of inexpensive, compact sensors that can continuously scan airports, subways and battlefields for the slightest trace of biological weapons. Coupled with modern electronics, researchers say, the new sensors could detect nearby biological agents, sound alarms and call for help. The team has been able to create highly stable, DNA-modified diamond films -- solving the chemistry problem of building a stable platform that can constantly sniff for anything unusual. Because diamond films can be deposited on silicon, the stuff of which computer chips and other microelectronic devices are made, it provides a bridge between the world of miniature electronics and biology, which requires a chemically stable platform for biosensing. "This is where we are going and we are almost there. The science is there. We've proven we can make surfaces that are much more stable than anything that existed before," Professor Robert Hamers says. "And we've proven that we can detect the electrical response when biomolecules bind to the diamond surface."
DYSLEXIC BRAINS CAN BE RE-WIRED
A multi-university team of researchers say the brains of dyslexic children can be "rewired" through intensive remedial training to function more like those found in normal readers. They used brain-imaging scans of dyslexic children to show areas of the brain critical to reading skills became activated for the first time and began to function more normally after only eight weeks of special training. Other regions of the brain also lit up on the scans in a compensatory process dyslexics might have used as they learned to read more fluently. Dyslexia, sometimes called "word blindness," is a disorder that affects 5 to 10 percent of Americans. Investigators used the Fast ForWord Language computer software and a training program to help dyslexic children learn to process and interpret the very rapid sequence of sounds within words and sentences by exaggerating them and slowing them down.
DISTILLING BREAKTHROUGH HELPS ENVIRONMENT
Biologists at Manchester Metropolitan University have helped create a breakthrough in alcohol production that could save money and clean up the environment. Many distilleries across Europe still rely on 19th-century technology pioneered by Louis Pasteur, so a more efficient fermenting system is needed. The technology allows continuous production of the ethyl alcohol, currently made in batches. Mike Dempsey, whose research on adhesive organisms and fluidized bed fermentation is central to the technique, said: "The new process involves the way organisms are used in the fermenter. By using fluidized beds we can increase cell concentration tenfold with a similar increase in the rate of production. Coupled with continuous fermentation, this should raise ethyl alcohol productivity at least 20 fold." The process uses agricultural and food industry waste as a source of sugar and ethanol from the process can be used as a motor fuel or fuel-extender.
---
(EDITORS: For more information on PLANTS, contact Kathleen Phillips, (979) 845-2872 or e-mail [email protected]. For DIAMOND, Robert Hamers (608) 262-6371 or [email protected], for DYSLEXIC, Paula Tallal, (973) 353-1080 ext. 3200 or [email protected], and for DISTILL, Gareth Hollyman, 0161 247 3406, or [email protected].)
