Biosentients - Science Biology… etc

common pasture plant could help foraging ruminants ward off damaging gastrointestinal nematodes that can cause illness and death, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) researchers report. Animal scientist Joan Burke at the ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Booneville, Ark., along with colleagues at several universities, has patented formulations of Sericea lespedeza, usually referred to as Chinese bush clover. The plant was introduced in the United States in the 1930s to minimize soil erosion……..

In the tropics, carnivorous plants trap unsuspecting prey in a cavity filled with liquid known as a “pitcher”. The moment insects like flies, ants and beetles fall into a pitcher, the plant’s enzymes are activated and begin dissolving their new meal, obtaining nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen which are difficult to extract from certain soils. Carnivorous plants also possess a highly developed set of compounds and secondary metabolites to aid in their survival……..

A global initiative that includes key researchers from Oregon State University has successfully sequenced the genome of the wild grass Brachypodium distachyon, which will serve as a model to speed research on improved varieties of wheat, oats and barley, as well as switchgrass, a crop of major interest for biofuel production……..

Using an elaborate sleuthing system they developed to probe how cells manage their own division, Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that common but hard-to-see sugar switches are partly in control. Because these previously unrecognized sugar switches are so abundant and potential targets of manipulation by drugs, the discovery of their role has implications for new therapys for many diseases, including cancer, the researchers say……..

Researchers have created a new computational model that can be used to predict gene function of uncharacterized plant genes with unprecedented speed and accuracy. The network, dubbed AraNet, has over 19,600 genes associated to each other by over 1 million links and can increase the discovery rate of new genes affiliated with a given trait tenfold. It is a huge boost to fundamental plant biology and agricultural research……..

The colon is an important part of our internal organ system. It does the critical work of absorbing water and nutrients as well as eliminating waste matter. Regular adults can carry anywhere between 5 to 45 pounds of waste in their colon. This waste matter should be removed so that normal bowel processes can continue unhindered. If for any reason the colon is unable to eliminate waste matter then it can lead to a number of medical complications like hemorrhoids, constipation and ulceration colitis. This is one should get one’s colon cleaned periodically……..

An international research team has studied the distribution of plant species in mountainous environments. The study shows that mountain plant communities are not especially resistant to invasion by exotic species. The researchers also warn that these appears to become more aggressive as global warming gets a grip……..

Living organisms have good reason for engaging in sexual, rather than asexual, reproduction as per Maurine Neiman, assistant professor of biology in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and researcher in the Roy J. Carver Center for Genomics. In an article published in a recent issue of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, she and her colleagues, including John M. Logsdon Jr., associate professor of biology, examined the theory that sexual reproduction, while requiring more time and energy than asexual reproduction, is also much more common among living organisms and, therefore, must be very beneficial……..

By combining the tools of medicinal chemistry and zebrafish biology, a team of Vanderbilt researchers has identified compounds that may offer therapeutic leads for bone-related diseases and cancer. The findings, reported in ACS Chemical Biology, support using zebrafish as a novel platform for drug development……..

A team from the Department of Plant Biology and Ecology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) are focusing their research on the study of the ecology of rivers. The person in charge is Mr Jesús Pozo. For more than twenty years this team has been trying to identify links between the ecology and functioning of rivers and the surrounding terrestrial environment because, when all is said and done, rivers are like the excretory apparatus of the continents, just like the kidney is to the human body. River water often reflect the state of health of the external environment……..