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48 articles from ScienceDaily

First gene knockout in a cephalopod achieved

Biologists have achieved the first gene knockout in a cephalopod using the squid Doryteuthis pealeii, an exceptionally important research organism in biology for nearly a century. The team used CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing to knock out a pigmentation gene in squid embryos, which eliminated pigmentation in the eye and in skin cells (chromatophores) with high efficiency.

Stay or leave? A tale of two virus strategies revealed by math

By modeling experimentally measured characteristics of cells infected with hepatitis C in the lab, researchers found that one virus strain was roughly three times more likely to use copied genetic code to create new viruses compared to another, which instead tended to keep more copies inside an infected cell to accelerate replication. Understanding specific strategies adopted by viruses through...

Ancient mountain formation and monsoons helped create a modern biodiversity hotspot

Researchers examined the plant life in the China's Hengduan Mountains, the Himalaya Mountains, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Using DNA to build family trees of species, they learned that the diversity of plants in that region today can be traced back to newly-formed mountain ranges 30 million years ago, and monsoons that came later. It's a concrete example of how climatic and environmental...

New understanding of CRISPR-Cas9 tool could improve gene editing

Of the CRISPR-Cas9 tools created to date, base editors have gotten lots of attention because of their seemingly simple editing: they neatly replace one nucleic acid with another, in many cases all that should be needed to fix a genetic disease. Scientists have now determined the structure of the latest base editor as it swaps out nucleic acids, showing why it can go off target but also how it can...

Immune functions traded in for reproductive success

Researchers have investigated the phenomenon of sexual parasitism in deep-sea anglerfish. The scientists show that this very rare mode of reproduction is associated with the loss of adaptive immunity. In the course of evolution, however, the animals have reorganized their immune systems and only survive with the help of their innate immunity.

Using protons to tune interlayer forces in van-der-Waals materials

Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that interlayer coupling in a van der Waals (vdW) material can be largely modulated by a protonic gate, 'injecting' protons into the device. The same weak interlayer forces that make vdW materials so easy to separate (eg, the famous Scotch-tape method of isolating graphene) also limit these materials' applications in future technology. Stronger...

Plastics, pathogens and baby formula: What's in your shellfish?

The first landmark study using next-generation technology to comprehensively examine contaminants in oysters in Myanmar reveals alarming findings: the widespread presence of human bacterial pathogens and human-derived microdebris materials, including plastics, kerosene, paint, talc and milk supplement powders.

New method lets scientists peer deeper into ocean

Researchers have advanced a new way to see into the ocean's depths, establishing an approach to detect algae and measure key properties using light. A new article reports using a laser-based tool, lidar, to collect these measurements far deeper than has been typically possible using satellites.

New and unique class of carbohydrate receptors

Researchers have determineD the crystal structure of an exopolysaccharide receptor. The results give insight into how plants and microbes communicate, and this knowledge can hopefully be used for more sustainable agriculture where microbes play an important role.