Fixation in Biological News

Scientists sequence genome of the N2-fixing, soil-living bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii

... study organism for investigation of nitrogen fixation and other biochemical processes. It will also ... bacterial enzymes called nitrogenases. Nitrogen fixation is essential for life since different ... the nitrogenase enzymes involved in nitrogen fixation are very susceptible to destruction by oxygen. ....

Scientists may have solved an ecological riddle

... Weather and Climate Research say that nitrogen fixation has long been recognised as an important process ... and the theories used to predict nitrogen fixation patterns across major sectors of the land ... theory provides a unifying framework for nitrogen fixation which can explain the different levels ...

Researchers explain nitrogen paradox in forests

... but not where nitrogen is abundant, because fixation is energetically very costly to an organism," ... the enzyme offsets the benefit of nitrogen fixation in temperate forests, despite low-nitrogen soils. ... striking how simple the economics of nitrogen fixation fall out, once you consider the link between the ...

Forest canopies help determine natural fertilization rates

... from the above canopy and then monitored nitrogen fixation rates in the mosses. The studies revealed that ... a condition typical of young forests, nitrogen fixation was extremely low. In older, low-productivity ... cushion, resulting in extremely high nitrogen fixation rates. ...

Single-celled bacterium works 24-7

... photosynthesis during the day and nitrogen fixation at night. In general, this study shows that ... degrades nitrogenase, making nitrogen fixation difficult or impossible in photosynthetic ... cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation in different cells. As a single-celled bacterium, ...

Scientists uncover a novel mechanism that regulates carbon dioxide fixation in plants

... that slows the process of carbon dioxide fixation in plants. The research, published today (4 ... brakes are rapidly released and carbon dioxide fixation speeds away. Plants are dependent on sunlight ... a better understanding of the regulation of CO2 fixation in plants. This work will underpin strategies to ...

Can a new implant coating technique create a new six million dollar man?

... According to Prof. Eliaz, a good coating is crucial to the stable fixation of the implant in the surrounding bone. Since human bones naturally ... the implant as similar to a real bone. This ensures integration and fixation of the implant, and also prevents poisonous materials from leaking from ...

Mysterious microbe plays important role in ocean ecology

... of Ocean Sciences, which funded the work. "The fact that nitrogen fixation in these abundant unicells is decoupled from photosynthesis is ... and nitrate. Because nitrogen is essential for all forms of life, nitrogen fixation is a major factor controlling overall biological productivity in the ...

Photosynthesizing bacteria with a day-night cycle contain rare chromosome

... atmospheric nitrogen so other species can use it. This so-called nitrogen fixation is performed by a handful of bacterial species in water and soil. ... creatures such as plants and animals. Photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation are incompatible, leading this microbe to separate the activities both ...

Researchers coat titanium with polymer to improve integration of joint replacements

... over the uncoated or RGD-coated titanium. Garca and Petrie tested the fixation of the implants by measuring the amount of force required to pull the implants out of the bone. The study showed significantly higher mechanical fixation of the implants coated with the engineered fibronectin fragment over the ...

UC Davis researcher leads climate-change discovery

... nitrogen is in low supply, but not where nitrogen is abundant, because fixation is energetically very costly to an organism," says Houlton, lead author ... amount of nitrogen. This higher cost would offset the benefit of nitrogen fixation in temperate forests, despite low-nitrogen soils. In tropical forests, ...

Deep sea methane scavengers captured

... the performance of AOM. Pernthaler and co-workers also found genes for N2 fixation and demonstrated in lab experiments that the AOM archaea are indeed fixing N2. These results are intriguing, especially since the fixation of N2 is energetically expensive processes and the energy gained by AOM is ...

Nitric oxide regulates plants as well as people

... oxide inactivates Rubisco, a major enzyme involved in carbon dioxide fixation and photosynthesis in plants. Kalanchoe represents plants that have a unique method of carbon dioxide fixation that is shared by succulent plants. Kalanchoe has diverse possible ...

A genome may reduce your carbon footprint

... and local adaptation to soil, temperature, and moisture conditions. It is still largely undomesticated and thus large gains might be realized through fixation of beneficial alleles in breeding populations. There are likely to be a few genes with large effects that will dramatically impact yields once ...

Food security: It starts with seed

... of the book. Current areas of research in his lab include the genetic modification of soybean seed composition and improvement of biological nitrogen fixation in the model symbiosis between soybean and Sinorhizobium fredii USDA257. The publishing of Modification of Seed Composition to Promote Health and ...

A quarter of the world's population depends on degrading land

... and Brazil. The usual suspects, such as the African Sahel and around the Mediterranean are much less affected." The resulting loss of carbon fixation from the atmosphere over the measured period amounts to a thousand million tonnes. At a shadow price of $50 per tonne, the loss of carbon fixed ...

New technique for cancer screening

... or even to detect low numbers of tumor cells in the background of non-tumor cells in lymph nodes and other organs. Most importantly, because formalin fixation and paraffin embedding are the most common means of tissue storage, the reported method has the potential to make DNA methylation analysis possible ...

Next generation microscopy: No stain, big gain

... and work to develop new treatments. Test results can often take hours or even days because cells or tissues must be subjected to lengthy fixation and labeling processes, sometimes called staining, in order to visualize and distinguish cellular components. In addition to long processing times, ...

Myth about 'dirty old men' supported by science

... to the same extent their attractiveness in the ads. The fact that both sexes focus on looks may also be influenced by our times, with the great fixation on appearance in the media." ...

Mysterious microbe may play important role in ocean ecology

... it unless it is "fixed" to other elements to make molecules like ammonia and nitrate. Because nitrogen is essential for all forms of life, nitrogen fixation is a major factor controlling overall biological productivity in the oceans. The new microbe is one of the most abundant nitrogen fixers in many ...

NIH awards Clemson bioengineer $1.5 million to improve durability of tissue heart valves

... goal is to extend the biological durability of BHVs beyond 20 years. "We've identified a problem where viscoelasticity is lost during tissue fixation and after implantation, and maintaining the structural integrity of the tissue matrix in the processed tissue is essential for these types of ...

Research pushes back history of crop development 10,000 years

... of the two different gene types in this plant. That study has shown that the tough rachis mutant appeared some 9,250 years ago and had not reached fixation over 3,000 years later even after the spread of agriculture into Europe was well underway. Studies like these have shown that the rise of the ...

Cyanobacterium sequenced features rare linear chromosome

... Washington University in St. Louis has sequenced the genome of a unique bacterium that manages two disparate operations photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation in one little cell during two distinct cycles daily. Himadri B. Pakrasi, Ph.D., George William and Irene Koechig Professor in Arts & Sciences, ...

As Andean glacier retreats, tiny life forms swiftly move in, CU-Boulder study shows

... researchers also found the microbes excrete a glue-like sugar compound to further bond soil particles. In addition, they discovered that nitrogen fixation rates -- the process in which nitrogen gas is converted by bacteria into compounds in the soil like ammonia and nitrate -- increased by about ...

Amazon powers tropical ocean's carbon sink

... the surface in the short term. "The most appropriate places are probably not the high latitudes but rather the low-latitude areas where nitrogen fixation is a predominant process," Capone said. But Capone also noted the risks of iron fertilization, including increased production of other greenhouse ...

New technique yields more detailed picture of chromatin structure

... Traditional studies fix the cells with potent chemicals (called fixatives) to preserve their structure for viewing under a microscope. But standard fixation methods interfere with another step in the imaging process: the use of tagged antibodies to label key components of the cells. These antibodies, ...

New twist on life's power source

... that this novel cycle occurs in two major ocean basins and suggest that a substantial amount of energy from sunlight gets re-routed away from carbon fixation during photosynthesis. This may mean that less carbon dioxide is being removed from the atmosphere by the open ocean photosynthetic organisms than ...

A common genetic mechanism discovered in nitrogen-fixing plants

... the coming years contribute to the development of procedures for performing the transfer of the genetic material necessary for atmospheric nitrogen fixation to plants like cereals, which do not possess this faculty. Although rice, for example, establishes a symbiotic relation with a mycorrhizal fungus, it ...

Unexplored microbes hold incredible potential for science and industry

... nutrients for new growth. They influence food webs, bioenergy production, waste management and treatment, food production, and symbiotic nitrogen fixation for plants. "As the number of people on the planet grows, reliance on microorganisms to perform these critical tasks will grow as well," says ...

Bioclocks work by controlling chromosome coiling

... in the DNA during the day and turned off during the night when the DNA is more relaxed. By the same token, the genes that are involved in nitrogen fixation should be located in regions of the chromosome that are turned off during the day when the DNA is tightly coiled and turned on during the night when ...

Science casts doubt on famous British murder case

... away at the slides glass cover slip to get at the tissue sample. One of his graduate students recently studied ways to work around formaldehyde fixation to isolate DNA. The goal: compare the mitochondrial DNA in the slide that convicted Crippen with Wills assignment finding a maternal relative of ...

Emphasis on conifer forests places multiple species at risk

... tree diversity, shrub and vegetation species may have long-term impacts on forest health, including ability to resist disease, soil function and fixation of nitrogen. An illustration of this concern is a current epidemic of Swiss Needle Cast, a tree disease occurring in areas that used to have many ...

New findings blow a decade of assumptions out of the water

... News and Views piece says it all, "Looking for N2 fixation in all the Wrong Places." It's important to have a global picture of where nitrogen fixation is occurring ?that is where nitrogen gas is being ... understand the environmental controls on nitrogen fixation and its likely response to climate change in the ...

Hot-spring bacteria flip a metabolic switch

... into larger, carbon-containing compounds. N2 fixation is a problem for photosynthetic cells, since the ... of the mat, raising the question of whether N2 fixation was critical for organisms in the hotter regions ... of genes involved in photosynthesis and N2 fixation over a 24-hour period. They found that ...

Plant hemoglobins: Oxygen handlers critical for nitrogen fixation

... plant hemoglobin serves to assist in the fixation of nitrogen in the root nodules of legumes ... of nitrogen-poor soils. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation is important for sustainable agriculture and ... Leghemoglobins Are Crucial for Nitrogen fixation in Legume Root Nodules but Not for General Plant ...

Pesticides choke pathway for nature to produce nitrogen for crops

... Fox said, because it reduces a legume crop's natural need for nitrogen fixation but leaves a shortage of natural nitrogen in the soil for the next year's ... with symbiotic signaling, the overall amount of symbiotic nitrogen fixation is reduced. If this natural fertilizer source is not replaced by increased ...

Fast-freeze snapshot yields new picture of nerve-muscle junction

... using the high-pressure freeze method. What's more, during gluteraldhyde fixation the nematodes writhe around, releasing neurotransmitters while cells ... before been demonstrated." Richmond said the conventional gluteraldhyde fixation technique was the problem with the earlier view of vesicle positioning in ...

Plants, too, have ways to manage freeloaders

... during the nearly 15 years she has studied the ecology of nitrogen fixation in legumes. Lupines are widespread and beautiful wildflowers, but they ... one had asked whether plants could detect natural differences in nitrogen fixation among the microbes they encounter in the soil. Interestingly, not all ...

Puzzling plankton yield secrets to role in evolution/global photosynthesis

... their appetite for iron—an adaptive process in Ostreococcus. "This work builds on the community’s emerging understanding about how carbon fixation is carried out by picoplankton," said Brian Palenik, lead author and researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, ...