ScienceDaily: Biotechnology News

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• Bacterial resistance to antibiotics: The more they resist, the more they divide
• Using a 'systems biology' approach to look under the hood of an aggressive form of breast cancer
• Largest-ever map of plant protein interactions
• Researchers target, switch off serotonin-producing neurons in mice; New insights may be relevant to sudden infant death syndrome
• First large-scale map of a plant's protein network addresses evolution, disease process
• Gene discovery in truffle dogs sheds new light on mechanisms of childhood epilepsy

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics: The more they resist, the more they divide Posted: 28 Jul 2011 07:04 PM PDT The number of multiresistant strains of bacteria in hospitals is increasing. Bacteria acquire resistance to antibiotics through mutations in their chromosomes and by incorporating new genes, either from the surrounding environment or from other bacteria. Now, researchers in Portugal have shown that, surprisingly, when both mechanisms of resistance are playing out in the bacterium E. coli, its ability to survive and reproduce is increased.

Using a 'systems biology' approach to look under the hood of an aggressive form of breast cancer Posted: 28 Jul 2011 01:26 PM PDT Using a "systems biology" approach -- which focuses on understanding the complex relationships between biological systems -- to look under the hood of an aggressive form of breast cancer, researchers for the first time have identified a set of proteins in the blood that change in abundance long before the cancer is clinically detectable.

Largest-ever map of plant protein interactions Posted: 28 Jul 2011 11:49 AM PDT Researchers have mapped and analyzed thousands of protein-to-protein interactions within the cells of Arabidopsis thaliana -- a variety of mustard plant that is to plant biology what the lab mouse is to human biology. The research promises to enable biologists to make agricultural plants more nutritious and more resistant to drought and diseases.

Researchers target, switch off serotonin-producing neurons in mice; New insights may be relevant to sudden infant death syndrome Posted: 28 Jul 2011 11:48 AM PDT Researchers have developed a toolkit that enables them to turn off targeted cell populations while leaving others unaffected. The group focused on serotonin-producing neurons, observing how mice behave in a normal environment when suddenly their serotonin neurons are turned down.

First large-scale map of a plant's protein network addresses evolution, disease process Posted: 28 Jul 2011 11:47 AM PDT The first large-scale map of protein networks in a plant addresses longstanding questions about evolution, illuminates disease processes in plants.

Gene discovery in truffle dogs sheds new light on mechanisms of childhood epilepsy Posted: 27 Jul 2011 05:38 PM PDT A new epilepsy gene, LGI2, has been found in the Lagotto Romagnolo dogs, known from their gift for truffle hunting.

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