For nearly a billion people around the world, cassava is a staple crop and a primary source of calories. The plant is easy to cultivate – cuttings grow well on marginal land—and it is very tolerant of drought. For the U.S. Department of Energy, these traits and its starchy qualities make cassava of interest as a potential feedstock for biofuel production. Though cassava is easy to cultivate, it is particularly vulnerable to plant pathogens, which can significantly reduce crop yields. To help improve breeding strategies for this root crop, a UC Berkeley-led team including DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers have described cassava’s genetic diversity in the April 18, 2016 advance online publication of the journal Nature Biotechnology. Read more about this analysis on the DOE JGI website.
Visualizing Transporter Structure Creates Platform for Antidepressant Drug Design
Researchers at Oregon Health and Sciences University’s Vollum Institute have revealed the molecular structure of the serotonin transporter (SERT), providing new insight into the mechanism of antidepressant action of two widely prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) commonly used to treat depression. In their Nature paper, authors Jonathan Coleman, Evan Green, and Eric Gouaux describe their use of X-ray crystallography to capture images of human SERT structures. They collected data at the Beamline 5.0.2 in the Berkeley Center for Structural Biology and used the Phenix software suite to build models and refine the structures. The resulting structures show antidepressants citalopram and paroxetine lock SERT in an outward-open conformation, directly blocking serotonin binding. Visualizing this structure provides a blueprint for future drug design to treat anxiety and depression. This work was highlighted by Nature News and OHSU News.
ABPDU Enters into New Federal Strategic Partnership Program Agreements
The Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit (ABPDU) has entered into Federal Strategic Partnership Program agreements with three new companies to develop and scale up processes in renewable chemical production (Ardra Bio), sustainable food product development (Hampton Creek), and biobased chemical production (Ginkgo Bioworks).
ESOC Welcomes French Synthetic Biology Delegation
Emery Station Operations Center (ESOC) welcomed a French Synthetic Biology Delegation on April 13. The delegation was led by the IAR Cluster (Pôle de Compétitivité IAR), which brings together more than 320 stakeholders from research, higher education, industry (SMEs and large companies) and agriculture with a common goal: the optimal valorization of renewable resources. IAR’s four R&I fields include biofuels, biomaterials (biopolymers and bio-composites), biochemicals and bio-ingredients.
Tracking the Onset of Alzheimer’s
An April 9 San Francisco Chronicle story, “Brain scan could detect Alzheimer’s in earliest stages,” featured work by William Jagust, senior faculty in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division. The story was based on a campus news release written by the Lab’s Public Affairs’ Sarah Yang.
Scientists have developed an imaging process that for the first time, they say, can identify and track the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people’s brains, even when there are no symptoms — a development that could lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment for a disease that has become more pervasive among the growing number of older Americans. “These scans have revolutionized the ways we think about Alzheimer’s disease,” Jagust said. “It’s opened up whole new way of doing research.” Read the full story.
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