Sleep calculator

Scientists have discovered how an animal's biological clock wakes it up in the morning and puts it to sleep at night. Brain circadian neurons that govern the daily sleep-wake cycle's timing. High sodium channel activity in these neurons during the day turn the cells on and ultimately awaken an animal, and high potassium channel activity at night turn them off, allowing the animal to sleep.

Ref: Matthieu Flourakis et al., 2015, Cell.

The molecular mechanisms of brassinosteroids in plant breeding

Fig: Growth defects of the model research plant thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) which are induced by missing of steroid hormones (left side). With the help of gibberelline production the defects could be repaired (right side). Credit: Brigitte Poppenberger / TUM

Two growth-promoting groups of substances, or phytohormones, the gibberellins and the brassinosteroids are used independently of each other for the breeding and production of crop plants. It is discovered that without brassinosteroids, a plant is unable to produce gibberellins.

Reg: Unterholzner, 2015, Plant Cell.

DOI: 10.1105/tpc.15.00433​

'Bionic' spinach plants can detect explosives

By embedding spinach leaves with carbon nanotubes, MIT engineers have transformed spinach plants into sensors that can detect explosives and wirelessly relay that information to a handheld device similar to a smartphone.

Credit: Christine Daniloff/MIT

 

This is one of the first demonstrations of engineering electronic systems into plants, an approach that the researchers call "plant nanobionics." In this case,  Spinach plants were designed to detect chemical compounds known as nitroaromatics, which are often used in landmines and other explosives. When one of these chemicals is present in the groundwater sampled naturally by the plant, carbon nanotubes embedded in the plant leaves emit a fluorescent signal that can be read with an infrared camera. The camera can be attached to a small computer similar to a smartphone, which then sends an email to the user.

Ref: Min Hao Wong et al., (2016), Nitroaromatic detection and infrared communication from wild-type plants using plant nanobionics, Nature materials.

Full Text
DOI: 10.1038/nmat4771

Lab-grown lungs successfully transplanted into mice

Transplanted HLO-scaffold constructs engrafted, grew and possessed airway-like structures.

Keyword: HLOs-Human Lung Organoids, PLG- poly(lactide-co-glycolide)  

Fig: (A) PLG scaffold are 5 mm in diameter with honeycomb-patterned architecture. (B) The majority of Di-O labeled 1d HLOs (green) remained at the surface of the scaffold with a few organoids descending toward the middle of the scaffold. Inset shows aerial view of the scaffold with 1d HLOs (green) scattered throughout. (C) 1d HLOs settled within the pores of the scaffold. Scale bar represents 100 µm. (D) PLG scaffolds were seeded with 1d HLOs and cultured for 5 to 7 days in vitro in media supplemented with FGF10. The HLO-laden scaffolds were then transplanted into the mouse epididymal fat pad and harvested at 8 weeks. (E) HLO-scaffold (dotted line) was placed in mouse epididymal fat pad. (F) Transplanted HLOs (tHLOs) ranged from 0.5 cm to 1.5 cm in length. (G) The average number airway-like structures that were NKX2.1+ ECAD+ out of all ECAD+ structures was 86.19% +/- 4.14% (N = 10, error bars represent SEM). (H) H&E of tHLOs showed airway-like structures (right two panels, low and high mag) and pockets of cartilage (left panel). Scale bar at low mag represents 200 µm and high mag 100 µm. (I) Airway-like structures outlined by ECAD (white) expressed the lung marker NKX2.1 (green). Scale bar represents 50 µm. (J–K) Both the epithelium (β-CAT, red) and mesenchyme expressed the human nuclear marker, HUNU (J, green) and the human mitochondrial marker huMITO (K, green). Scale bars represent 50 µm in J–K and 10 µm in high mag image in K.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19732.003

Researchers at the University of Michigan have transplanted lab-grown mini lungs into immunosuppressed mice where the structures were able to survive, grow and mature. Respiratory diseases account for nearly 1 in 5 deaths worldwide, and lung cancer survival rates remain poor despite numerous therapeutic advances during the past 30 years. Now, the researchers attempted to transplant the miniature lungs into mice, an approach that has been widely adopted in the stem cell field. 

Researchers characterized the transplanted mini lungs as well-developed tissue that possessed a highly organized epithelial layer lining the lungs.

One drawback was that the alveolar cell types did not grow in the transplants. Still, several specialized lung cell types were present, including mucus-producing cells, multiciliated cells and stem cells found in the adult lung.

Ref:: Briana R Dye et al., (2016) A bioengineered niche promotes in vivo engraftment and maturation of pluripotent stem cell derived human lung organoids, eLIFE.

Full Text (PDF) 
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.19732 

Paleobotanist identifies what could be the worlds first flower

Paleobotanists have identified a 125 million- to 130 million-year-old freshwater plant Montsechia vidalii from Spain as one of earliest flowering plants on Earth. "A 'first flower' is technically a myth, like the 'first human,'" said Dilcher, an internationally recognized expert on angiosperm anatomy and morphology. The conclusions are based upon careful analyses of more than 1,000 fossilized remains of Montsechia, whose stems and leaf structures were coaxed from stone by applying hydrochloric acid on a drop-by-drop basis. The plant's cuticles the protective film covering the leaves that reveals their shape were also carefully bleached using a mixture of nitric acid and potassium chlorate. Examination of the specimens was conducted under a stereomicroscope, light microscope and scanning electron microscope.

Ref: David L. Dilcherd et al. 2015, PNAS.

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1509241112

The "Drinkable book" can save lives

According to the World Health Organization, 3.4 million people die each year due to health issues stemming from unsanitary water. The drinkable book contains nanoparticles of silver that can kill waterborne bacteria and purify up to 100 litres of water.  It is a sturdy sheet of paper loaded with silver and copper nanoparticles that kill dangerous microbes living in dirty water. In trials, the paper successfully removed more than 99% of bacteria.

Source: Theresa Dankovich, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

G-9 iron-rich banana variety

There has been growing demand for Grand Naine banana (G-9 variety) in foreign countries. The National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) has taken up research on developing a genetically modified banana variety rich in iron content. A. P. Karuppiah, state president of the Tamil Nadu Banana Growers Federation, had brought the variety from his native farm in Theni district. He said the monthly export from Theni stood at 1,500 tonnes and it was widely exported to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. Its color and prolonged shelf-life has been a major reason for attraction. The branch weighing 86 kg had 236 bananas, each measuring 27 cm long. He said, scientific cultivation, adaoptation of drip irrigation and proper fruit care would fetch a profit of at least Rs. 2 lakh an acre. He added, efforts were on to increase the shelf-life for which research was on by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Canadian University.

Source: NRCB, Podhavur village, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India, 2015.