News by Subject Biology

A multi-disciplinary research collaboration which was led by Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), created a field-applicable, ultrasensitive diagnostic assay that specifically detects DNA sequences from all Plasmodium species in symptomatic and asymptomatic malaria. The new malaria diagnostic method combines an optimized 10-minute rapid sample preparation protocol with the CRISPR-based SHERLOCK system to enable highly specific and sensitive Plasmodium detection in another 60 minutes in simple reporter devices.

By comparing genetic variants differing in the two fly populations, researchers found that polygenic traits led to the quickness of adaptation; many genes, each with very small effects, worked together to determine the rate of development. The research illustrates that crop pests and insect disease vectors with similar biology may rapidly respond to changing climates by a similar genetic mechanism.

Princeton researchers Rachel Kaletsky, Rebecca Moore, Coleen Murphy and colleagues have discovered that the microscopic roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans recognizes a small RNA made by a pathogenic bacterium, and uses that RNA to convey learned avoidance of the bacterium to offspring. Their work appears in the Sept. 9, 2020 issue of Nature.

Researchers at the Western Pacific Tropical Research Center at the University of Guam have documented what biologists call a "host shift" of the coconut rhinoceros beetle in Guam. The beetle, first documented as an invasive species in Guam in 2007, has been devastating the island's ubiquitous coconut trees and is now also burrowing into Guam's endangered native cycad tree, Cycas micronesica.

A tick species associated with bats has been reported for the first time in New Jersey and could pose health risks to people, pets and livestock, according to a Rutgers-led study in the Journal of Medical Entomology. This species (Carios kelleyi) is a "soft" tick. Deer ticks, which carry Lyme disease, are an example of "hard" ticks.

Scientists developed a methodology that uses next-generation sequencing technology for fast and efficient screening of genetic diversity of fish eye parasites.

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have discovered a link between defensive responses in plants and the beautiful but devastating crop parasite witchweed. Published in Nature, the new study shows that both parasitic and non-parasitic plants can detect and react to a class of organic compounds called quinones. While parasitic plants sense quinones in their prey and use it to invade, quinones trigger defensive responses in non-parasitic plants that can protect them from bacteria and other microbes.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology have investigated how the parasitic dodder Cuscuta australis controls flower formation. They showed that the parasite eavesdrops on the flowering signals of its host plants in order to activate its own flowering machinery. By synchronizing flowering with its host plant, the parasite makes sure that it can grow on its host long enough to produce the optimal amount of seeds.