Chloroplasts News and Research

RSS

Researchers discover mechanism that corrects protein misfolding in plants

Various human nervous system diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's diseases, are associated with the same basic disorder: the loss of nerve cells capacity to fold their proteins correctly, which causes protein aggregations that form "clumps" that end up generating the cell death.

25 Oct 2017

Penn researchers develop plant-based oral vaccine booster

Jonas Salk created a vaccine against polio that has been used since 1955; Albert Sabin created another version that has been on the market since 1961. Together, these two vaccines have nearly eliminated polio from the face of the earth.

20 Jul 2016

New and inexpensive technique could help meet global demands for malaria drug

A new and inexpensive technique for mass-producing the main ingredient in the most effective treatment for malaria, artemisinin, could help meet global demands for the drug, according to a study to be published in the journal eLife.

15 Jun 2016

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to establish 5 new Research Units

Topics Range from Composite Structures to Personnel Decisions to Metastatic Cancer Progression / About Eleven Million Euros in Funding for Three Years

4 Apr 2014

Research findings may lead to potential treatments for inherited diseases

New research from the University of California, Davis, shows that the tiny proportion of a cell's DNA that is located outside the cell nucleus has a disproportionately large effect on a cell's metabolism.

12 Oct 2013

Advancement in re-engineering photosynthesis can transform plants into bio-factories

Scientists are reporting an advance in re-engineering photosynthesis to transform plants into bio-factories that manufacture high-value ingredients for medicines, fabrics, fuels and other products. They report on the research in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology.

8 Mar 2013

Scientists discover curious twist in chalcone-isomerase

A curious twist in a family of plant proteins called chalcone-isomerase recently was discovered by Salk Institute for Biological Studies scientist Joseph Noel and colleagues at Iowa State University led by Eve Wurtele.

15 May 2012

Gene function preserved despite structural differences in the DNA

Chloroplasts, the plant cell's green solar power generators, were once living beings in their own right. This changed about one billion years ago, when they were swallowed up but not digested by larger cells. Since then, they have lost much of their autonomy.

16 Apr 2012

Researchers uncover how phytoplankton release powerful toxins into environment

Each year, phytoplankton blooms known as "red tides" kill millions of fish and other marine organisms and blanket vast areas of coastal water around the world. Though the precise causes of red tides remain a mystery, a team of researchers in the United States and Spain has solved one of the main riddles about these ecological disasters by uncovering the specific mechanism that triggers phytoplankton to release their powerful toxins into the environment.

24 Feb 2012

Plant-based system could help improve lives of hemophilic patients

Hemophilia, a disease linked with legends of European monarchs, frail heirs and one flamboyant charlatan called Rasputin, still afflicts many people today.

31 Mar 2010

Improved-resolution views of a zinc transporter protein deciphered

New, improved-resolution views of a zinc transporter protein deciphered at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory provide not just a structure but also a suggested mechanism for how cells sense and regulate zinc, an element that is essential for life, but which must be kept at a steady state to avoid problems like seizures, diabetes, and possibly Alzheimer's disease.

14 Sep 2009

From algae to parasites: new 'missing link' species found in Sydney Harbour

It's not often that brown algae is considered exciting or revolutionary, but Associate Professor Dee Carter from the School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences at the University of Sydney and her former PhD student, Robert Moore, have found a new species of single-celled brown algae that is an evolutionary missing link.

2 Apr 2008

Green leaves may fight obesity

Could a substance found in green leaves be used as a means of combating obesity, by being added to various functional foods to keep the consumer feeling full longer?

26 Jun 2006

Tobacco plants being used to produce human albumin

Human serum albumin (HSA) is the intravenous protein most commonly used in the world for therapeutic ends. It is employed to stabilise blood volume and to avoid risk of a heart attack, its administration in operating theatres being almost a daily occurrence.

27 Mar 2006