Fralin Life Science Institute

Scientists have discovered that if a specific gene located on a non-sex chromosome is turned off, cells in the ovaries of adult female mice turn into cells typically found in testes. Their study challenges the long-held assumption that the development of female traits is a default pathway and grants a valuable insight into how sex determination evolved.

Ancient DNA retrieved from extinct horse species from around the world has challenged one of the textbook examples of evolution -- the fossil record of the horse family Equidae over the past 55 million years.

Bioengineers are developing new regenerative therapies for heart disease. The work could influence the way in which regenerative therapies for cardiovascular and other diseases are treated in the future.

By looking at yeast cells, a biologist has figured out one way in which cells can transform themselves: a cellular "machine" removes a regulatory "lid."

The natural compound xanthohumol blocks the effects of the male hormone testosterone, therefore aiding in the prevention of prostate cancer.

Deforestation in tropical rain forests could have an even greater impact on climate change than has previously been thought. The combined biomass of a large number of small forest fragments left over after habitat fragmentation can be up to 40 percent less than in a continuous natural forest of the same overall size. This is the conclusion reached by German and Brazilian researchers who used a simulation model.

Acreage of organic nurseries and greenhouses in the US increased 83 percent since 2004. But supermarket sales of organic ornamental plants are not keeping up with this trend; organic herbs and flowers have been marketed primarily through the Internet, community agriculture groups, and local farmers markets. Organic and conventional growers consider insect and fertility to be the biggest challenges facing organic growers and these topics should be top priorities for future research on organic greenhouse production.

The sound level of songs blue whales sing across the vast expanses of the ocean to attract potential mates has been steadily creeping downward for the past few decades, and scientists believe the trend may be good news for the population of the endangered marine mammal.

Scientists have used worms to reel in information they hope will lead to a greater understanding of cellular mechanisms that may be exploited to treat epilepsy. In a new study, the researchers explain how the transparent roundworm, C. elegans, helped them identify key "molecular switches" that control the transport of a molecule (gamma-aminobutyric acid or "GABA") that if manipulated within our cells, might prevent the onset of seizures.

Humans have the same receptors for detecting odors related to sex as do other primates. But each species uses them in different ways, stemming from the way the genes for these receptors have evolved over time, according to researchers.

The 2009 H1N1 virus, which ignited a worldwide "swine flu" panic earlier this year, used a novel strategy to cross from birds into people, scientists have found. The finding could help those surveilling the world for new flu variants and those developing antiviral drugs.

We don't always turn out like our parents. Sometimes we become even better. How this happens is the subject of a new research project by scientists in Sweden.

The skin is light brown, the meat luscious and yellow: from the outside alone, this new potato looks like any other. But on the inside, it is different. Its cells produce pure amylopectin, a starch used in the paper, textile and food industries. The new potatoes -- recently harvested and processed for the first time -- were developed with the aid of a new, especially rapid breeding process.

For more than 400 years, scientists have studied the amazing regenerative power of salamanders, trying to understand how these creatures routinely repair injuries that would usually leave humans and other mammals paralyzed -- or worse. Now, researchers have begun creating genomic tools necessary to compare the extraordinary regenerative capacity of the Mexican axolotl salamander with established mouse models of human disease and injury.

Scientists looking to understand the genetic mechanisms of plant defense and growth have found for the first time in plants an inverse relationship between gene duplication and alternative splicing. The finding has implications for diversity not only in plants, but in animals and humans.

An Arizona State University research team has developed a process that removes a key obstacle to producing lower-cost, renewable biofuels. The team has programmed a photosynthetic microbe to self-destruct, making the recovery of high-energy fats -- and their biofuel byproducts -- easier and potentially less costly.

Research engineers have discovered that in healthy cells, a bundled "cap" of thread-like fibers holds the cell's nucleus in its proper place.

Birds' alarm calls serve both to alert other birds to danger and to warn off predators. And some birds can pull a ventriloquist's trick, singing from the side of their mouths, according to a new study.

Researchers have found very large RNA structures within previously unstudied bacteria that appear crucial to basic biological functions such as helping viruses infect cells or allowing genes to "jump" to different parts of the chromosome.

Two new studies provide a significant advance in understanding how some species of monkeys such as sooty mangabeys and African green monkeys avoid AIDS when infected with SIV, the simian equivalent of HIV.