How yeast cells detect genetic infections

ETH researchers studying yeast cells have discovered a new mechanism for detecting foreign genetic material from pathogens or environmental contamination, and rendering it harmless.

Mustard plants have double defence against insect pests

Mustard plants have a double line of defence against foraging insects. The plants can release odours to attract miniscule wasps, which parasitise insect pest eggs. However, mustard plants also react by allowing cells to die, ...

Paralysis promises smart silk technology

(Phys.org) —Oxford University researchers have harnessed the natural defence mechanism of silkworms, which causes paralysis, in what is a major step towards the large-scale production of silks with tailor-made properties.

Cells like us stick together

Once upon a time all cells were solitary, going about the everyday business of life on their own.

Revealing the weapons by which bacteria fight each other

A new study which was performed jointly at Umea University and the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, discovered that bacteria can degrade the cell membrane of bacterial competitors with enzymes that do not harm their ...

Sea sponges offer hope for new medicines

(Phys.org)—Flinders University researcher Dr Jan Bekker is on a mission to chemically fingerprint South Australia's marine sponges, with the wider aim of identifying new compounds that could ultimately play an important ...

page 1 from 2