BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Author: ectobiologist

Spinning nano-particle experiment might shed light on the origin of life on Earth

During their experiments with nano-particles, researchers a the university of Michigan have found that some basic principles of movement cause structures to form in crystals. The university of Michigan has been doing experiments with Nano technology for quite some time now. This particular experiment’s goal was to find a way to make self-assembling particles, but it had some interesting implications. The nano-particles were made to spin like pinwheels, some clockwise and some counterclockwise. This had the effect of particles spinning in the same direction sticking together without any means of attraction. If two pinwheels are both spinning clockwise, and they intersect, like gears turning the same direction, they will get stuck together, on a scale of millions, it quickly separates into areas that are distinctly clockwise only and counterclockwise only, with channels in between that particles can flow through freely. This is the beginning of a nano-pump forming, without any attraction causing the particles to stick together. This shows that billions of years ago, life on earth may have begun without the need for anything more complex than spinning particles sticking together to form nano pumps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nanostars-it1302.jpg

source: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20140125190748.shtml

nano particles

Bacteria to become a new environmentally safe way to control invasive species?

 

source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zebra_mussel_GLERL_3.jpg

zebra mussels attached to a dock

Zebra mussels have, since 1991, become a huge problem in the hudson river. They devour the phytoplankton and disrupt the ecosystem, and, being an invasive species and having no natural predators in the americas, their population has soared uncontrollably. Until recently, Dr. Daniel Malloy has discovered a species of bacteria that is deadly to the shellfish, and to his knowledge, not to any other organism in the ecosystem. This solution might be just what the Hudson river ecosystem needs, a way to eradicate the aggressive zebra mussel without using chemicals that are harmful to the rest of the river’s inhabitants. This idea sprang from the use of the natural pesticide BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) to control blackflies. Malloy has discovered a species of  Pseudomonas fluorescens called “Strain CL145A” that had the desired affect on zebra mussels. When ingested, the dead cells of the bacteria, emit a toxin that destroys the digestive tracts of mussels, the live cells, outside of the digestive system have little to no effect. Malloy and his team are working on finding a fresh water strain of the bacteria to start to eradicate invasive mussels in other bodies of water.

sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/science/science-takes-on-a-silent-invader.html?ref=science

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/pafish/bass_black/smb2006/reebuck.pdf

Genetically Altered Soybean Might Be Just What America Needs

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bequer-B100-SOJA-SOYBEAM.jpg

Soybean oil

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs have long had an unfortunate reputation. Viewed on par with crops that make use of pesticides and other harmful chemicals, and often thought to be unhealthy. Organic farmers and magazines scorn their use and consumers think twice before purchasing products that make use of them. However, Monsanto, an extremely large and influential agriculture company that is similarly often cast in a negative light, has teamed up with DuPont Pioneer to revamp the genetic makeup of the soybean to create a bean that produces oil completely free of trans fats. It’s new fat composition is similar to that of olive oil, and it can potentially be produced on a larger scale and cheaper than it’s olive counterpart. Companies believe that this new innovation will help to improve the public image of GMOs and other biotech. As most endeavors up to this point have focused on resistance to weeds and parasites, rather than health and taste, it has been easy for consumers to create a negative view of  GMOs, but this new soybean, more consumer oriented, might help to sway that view.

The specific genetic modifications to the oil are the alteration of a gene that converts oleic fatty acids into linoleic acid. This conversion causes soybean oil to have an extremely short shelf life. The problem used to be solved by treating the oil with hydrogen gas, but this caused it to become saturated. With the gene silenced, there is no need for the hydrogen treatment, and the oil can remain unsaturated and free of trans-fats.

New Prehistoric Fish Discovery to Change How We View Our Evolutionary History?

a reconstruction of Entelognathus Primordialis

Prior to now, it has been accepted as common knowledge that cartilaginous fish predate bony fish in the ancient parts of the evolutionary family tree. As a result, it has been generally assumed that the earliest fish with jaws would have something fairly closely resembling that of a shark, as sharks are accepted to be on of the most ancient of vertebrates. However, the recent discovery of Entelognathus Primordialis in China may cause us to question these long held beliefs and assumptions.

 

This armored, toothless fish, may be up to 419 Million years old. Making it one of, if not the earliest vertebrate to be discovered to date, and it’s discovery throws a wrench in our image of what our prehistoric ancestors looked like. Entelognathus, rather than being a sleek, sharklike cartilaginous fish, is bony, with many small plates making up it’s skull and jaw. This skeletal template is something found in all land-dwelling vertebrates in modern day, leading scientists to theorize that rather than bony skeletons evolving from cartilaginous ones. it may have happened the other way around. Making our armored ancestors potentially more ancient than sharks’ more scaly predecessors.

sources:

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-fish-jaw-face-shark-bony-20130924,0,3212329.story

http://phys.org/news/2013-09-fish-fossil-yields-jaw-dropping.html

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12617.html

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