Mushroom in Biological News

Genetic tags reveal secrets of memories' staying power in mice

... AMPA receptors with memory were limited to the mushroom type. The mushroom spines also figured prominently in the same ... are also activated when it is lost. The surge in mushroom spine capture of the receptors appeared within ...

Button mushrooms contain as much anti-oxidants as expensive ones

... The humble white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) has as much, and in some ... more expensive varieties. Although the button mushroom is the foremost cultivated edible mushroom in the world with thousands of tonnes being eaten ...

Genetic technology reveals how poisonous mushrooms cook up toxins

... that sequences DNA about as fast as a death cap mushroom can kill. The results: The discovery of ... It might be possible one day to harness the mushroom genes to make novel chemicals that would be ... Emperor Tiberius Claudius was fed a death cap mushroom by his wife Agrippina to put her son Nero on the ...

New species of phallus-shaped mushroom named after California Academy of Sciences scientist

... of Sao Tome and graces the upcoming cover of the journal Mycologia . The mushroom is named after Robert Drewes, Curator of Herpetology at the California ... the only Phallus species to curve downward instead of upward. "The mushroom emerges from an egg and elongates over four hours," says Desjardin, who is ...

Changing sexes on the sea floor

... ― essential to all life in the ocean ― currently threatened by global warming. In times of stress like extreme hot spells, the female mushroom coral (known as a fungiid coral) switches its sex so that most of the population becomes male. The advantage of doing so, says the world-renowned ...

Understanding phosphorus in soils is vital to proper management

... issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal. Regardless of the type of organic materials applied (dairy, swine, poultry, or spent mushroom compost), orthophosphate (inorganic P) was the single dominant P form, more so in treated soils (79-93% of total P) than in untreated soils (33-71%). ...

UCR researchers propose minocycline as a promising drug for patients with Fragile X syndrome

... early development dendritic spines have immature finger-like shapes. But learning stabilizes the synapses and dendritic spines take on a mature mushroom shape, which make them more efficient. The brains of patients with Fragile X syndrome have an overabundance of immature dendritic spines. In ...

Moths with a nose for learning

... to extend its proboscis in anticipation of a dollop of sucrose after being given a scent cue. The researchers attached electrodes to the insects mushroom bodies, a structure in their brains known to be integral to learning and memory, in order to observe the mental representation of the scent through ...

Monitoring outcomes of suicide attempts in pregnancy can better assess drug dangers

... pregnant women were admitted and 1021 of these attempted suicide with drugs (the other 23 pregnant women had accidental intoxication due to poisonous mushroom ingestion or carbon monoxide). Among them, these women had 411 live-born infants, and 367 exposed children were evaluated with cognitive and ...

Brain tweak lets sleep-deprived flies stay sharp

... in sleep-deprived flies. Seugnet genetically altered a line of flies so they made more copies of a dopamine receptor in brain regions known as the mushroom bodies. These areas are roughly equivalent to the human hippocampus, which is involved in learning and memory. Sleep-deprived flies with extra ...

CSHL scientists identify a mechanism that helps fruit flies lock-in memories

... lab performed the final step. They genetically engineered flies that made especially large amounts of Pum protein in a brain region called the mushroom body where memory storage occurs. They then confirmed that, in such flies, the protein product of the dlg1 gene was dramatically reduced in this ...

Modified mushrooms may yield human drugs

... has always been a recognized potential of the mushroom as being a choice platform for the mass ... is a marker gene to help sort out the transgenic mushroom cells from the non-transgenic cells, Dr. Romaine ... camouflaging it with regulatory elements from a mushroom gene. We then patch these genetic elements in the ...

Sequencing of the oyster mushroom genome

... Pleurotus ostreatus , will be the first edible mushroom in the world to be genetically sequenced but, ... North American Genome Institute. The oyster mushroom and CO 2 balance The oyster mushroom is actively involved in the re-circulation of ...

Tracing the formation of long-term memory

... by the influx of calcium into cells called mushroom body neurons that occurs after special training ... we could see some calcium flowing into the mushroom body neurons when the flies were exposed to ... they saw much more calcium flowing into the mushroom body neurons. The increased calcium influx ...

Brain region linked to fly slumber

... and physiology, shows that the so-called mushroom bodies are essential for sleep regulation in the ... results using different methods.) How the mushroom bodies control sleep is uncertain, but Allada and ... is destroyed chemically, flies sleep less. mushroom bodies are known to have a role in learning and ...

Advances in the characterisation of the oyster mushroom genes

... The oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus), apart from reducing ... Degradation of cellulose In nature, the oyster mushroom grows on dead trunks of trees where the lignin ... isolated and sequenced those genes of the oyster mushroom responsible for this activity and investigated ...

Serotonin, acting in a specific brain region, promotes sleep in fruit flies

... and showed that it acts in a specific region of the fly brain known as the mushroom bodies. Interestingly, the mushroom bodies are required for learning and memory in flies. Given that ...

High fidelity keeps human DNA assembly line humming

... Burton's team stalled the DNA conveyer belt. They did this using a deadly mushroom toxin, alpha-amanitin. Alpha-amanitin is the poison of the death cap ... to humans. In 54 A.D., Emperor Tiberius Claudius was fed a death cap mushroom by his wife Agrippina to put her son Nero on the throne of ancient Rome. ...

Researchers barcode DNA of Venice museum's vast fungi collection

... characteristics match their molecular code." Without the DNA fingerprint, researchers traditionally need to wait for fungi to fruit or mushroom to identify them. "This can be very limiting because mushrooms are only produced seasonally, with some species only fruiting once every several ...

Mushrooms as good an antioxidant source as more colorful veggies

... Criminis, which are brown, are otherwise similar to the popular white button mushroom, the one mostly commonly consumed in the U.S. The white button mushroom has an ORAC value of 6.9, above tomato, green pepper, pumpkin, zucchini, carrot, and green beans. Dubost says, "You don't have to eat only the ...

How Fruitflies Know It's Time for Lunch

... which set off neurons that signal the antennal lobe of the central nervous system. From here, the electrical stimulation zooms toward the so-called mushroom body, a mushroom-shaped cluster of neurons involved in olfactory processing. Less is known about the gustatory signals, which begin both in the mouth ...

Digging in the dirt for life's biochemical foundations

... It seems a mighty feat for a microscopic fungus built from threadlike filaments. But collectively, these spindly mushroom relatives help move several billion tons of nutrients out of the soil and into plants each year. Now, new Michigan State University-supported ...