Finding gene neighbors leads to new protein functions

Access to sequenced genomes was a watershed moment in life science research. Genome sequences spell out an organism's DNA, the genetic code for how the organism develops, reproduces, and functions. As new technologies have ...

Algae as vessels for synthetic biology

Algae (a term used to group many photosynthetic organisms into a rather heterologous mash-up) do not have a kind place in the public imagination. Take for example the following passage from Stephen King's Pet Semetary:

Green light for clever algae

Phytoplankton not only constitutes the foundation of the food chain in the oceans, it also fixes carbon through photosynthesis and generates oxygen with the help of solar energy. A considerable part of phytoplankton is made ...

Marine algae can sense the rainbow

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown for the first time that several types of aquatic algae can detect orange, green and blue light.

Engineering alternative fuel with cyanobacteria

(Phys.org)—Sandia National Laboratories Truman Fellow Anne Ruffing has engineered two strains of cyanobacteria to produce free fatty acids, a precursor to liquid fuels, but she has also found that the process cuts the bacteria's ...