Category: Interesting scientific articles

Correlating developmental trajectories with transcriptome readout

May 14, 2019

Article in Nature, Vol. 531, 31 March 2016, pp. 637-641, “The mid-development transition and the evolution of animal body plans”   Summary of article: Transcriptomes of developing animals were correlated with the mid-developmental transitions; thereby, providing a molecular depiction of developmental transitions.   Link to original article: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature16994   Category: Interesting scientific articles, developmental biology, … More Correlating developmental trajectories with transcriptome readout

Vegetation’s response to global warming

May 12, 2019

Article in Nature, Vol. 531, Issue 7596, pp. 633-636, “Boreal and temperate trees show strong acclimation of respiration to warming”   Summary of article: Using statistical analysis of a large sample of temperature response curves obtained by measuring carbon dioxide loss from leaves in simulated temperature changes, the study opens our eyes to the role … More Vegetation’s response to global warming

Understanding phytobiome effect on plant growth and productivity

May 9, 2019

Article in Scientific American, August 2017, pp. 61-67, “Building a better harvest”.   Summary of article: Effect of phytobiome, the collection of microorganisms, soil, climate, and plant pathogens that interact with plant growth, on the productivity of crops was delineated. The data obtained points to the possibilities of how understanding the different facets of plant … More Understanding phytobiome effect on plant growth and productivity

Factors determining grasslands organismal diversity

May 8, 2019

Article in Nature, Vol. 537, Issue 7618, pp. 93, “Addition of multiple limiting resources reduces grassland diversity”   Summary of article: Number of below ground nutrients was found to positively correlate with above ground plant diversity in field experiments. In general, a paper with a confusing title, but the essence of the experiments presented speak … More Factors determining grasslands organismal diversity

Understanding possible synchronized synthesis of mitochondrial and cytosolic proteins for the oxidative phosphorylation complex

May 6, 2019

Article in Nature, Vol. 533, 26 May 2016, pp. 499-502, “Synchronized mitochondrial and cytosolic translation programs”   Summary of article: Time course RNA sequencing was used to illuminate the mechanism by which transcription and translation for oxidative phosphorylation complexes are coordinated.   Comment: Given the relatively small quantities of RNA transcript for oxidative phosphorylation complex … More Understanding possible synchronized synthesis of mitochondrial and cytosolic proteins for the oxidative phosphorylation complex

Smartphones as instruments for science

May 4, 2019

Feature article in Nature, Vol. 545, Issue 7652, pp. 119-121, 04 May 2017, “Pocket laboratories”   Summary of article: Since its introduction in 2007, smartphones have achieved a level of penetration in the consumer market, both in developing countries and developed economies, that it is almost ubiquitous in life. Buttressed by the multi-function and customization … More Smartphones as instruments for science

Visualizing mutational events in bacteria

May 3, 2019

A recent article in Science, Vol. 359, Issue 6381, pp. 1283-1286 (Link) visualized mutational events in bacterial cells at the single cell level using a combination of microfluidics cellular assays and fluorescent readout. The research opens up our understanding of how mutations are potentiated and propagated from parent to daughter cells. Furthermore, it reveals more … More Visualizing mutational events in bacteria

Understanding Earth complement of viruses

May 2, 2019

Article in Nature, Vol. 536, Issue 7617, pp. 425-430, “Uncovering Earth’s virome”   Summary of article: A vector-based metagenomics approach combined with bioinformatics analysis was used to uncover the subset of viruses present on human body surfaces and freshwater habitats. The study’s experiment design does not fit the grandiose nature of the paper’s title. Additionally, … More Understanding Earth complement of viruses

Satellite imagery of clouds reveals evidence of climate change

April 30, 2019

Article in Nature, Vol. 536, Issue 7614, pp. 72-74, “Evidence for climate change in the satellite cloud record”   Using climate modelling specific for predicting cloudiness and satellite records of cloud cover, the reasons underlying recent decadal changes in cloud cover and movement of storm tracks were uncovered. The study illustrates the increasing utility of … More Satellite imagery of clouds reveals evidence of climate change

Remaking photosynthesis for increasing crop yield

April 29, 2019

Feature article in Nature, Vol. 544, Issue 7651, pp. S11-S13, “Solar upgrade”   Summary of article: Crop production could be severely impacted by rising carbon dioxide concentration in the air as well as global warming. Thus, a slew of efforts is underway in major researcher centres around the world focussing on enhancing photosynthesis for increasing … More Remaking photosynthesis for increasing crop yield