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Read more at: Opening the tightly linked grass cell wall polymer network leads to improved biomass properties
Reduction of xylan cross linking

Opening the tightly linked grass cell wall polymer network leads to improved biomass properties

The grass family provides staple foods for billions of people worldwide, feed for animals, and biomass for the production of bioenergy. Plant biomass is primarily composed of lignin and polysaccharides that crosslink and interact with each other, forming complex and tightly knit cell walls. These networks of wall...


Read more at: New framework to interrogate the dynamics of the transcriptome and proteome at subcellular resolution will reveal insights into the role of RNA and protein localisation dynamics in disease

New framework to interrogate the dynamics of the transcriptome and proteome at subcellular resolution will reveal insights into the role of RNA and protein localisation dynamics in disease

A paper published in Nature Methods presents the most comprehensive overview to date of RNA and protein subcellular localisation dynamics.

The research groups of Kathryn Lilley in the Biochemistry Department, Cambridge and Anne Willis from the MRC Toxicology Unit together with colleagues in the Structural...


Read more at: Engineering trees to be a more efficient and sustainable feedstock for biomass conversion
Fig. 5: Model of action for callose integration in lignocellulosic biomass. From: Ectopic callose deposition into woody biomass modulates the nano-architecture of macrofibrils

Engineering trees to be a more efficient and sustainable feedstock for biomass conversion

Ground-breaking experiments performed in the Dupree lab by Paul Dupree and Jan Lyczakowski were essential to understanding the ultrastructural effects of callose addition on the engineered wood in a paper published in Nature Plants.


Read more at: Jammy plants!
A gosamt1 gosamt2 mutant Arabidopsis plant in a pot of 'Dupree Lab'-branded jam.

Jammy plants!

The Dupree Group and their collaborators have identified genes that regulate the properties of pectin, with their mutants causing pectin to gel as jam in the plant cell wall.


Read more at: Algae-powered computing: our scientists create a reliable and renewable biological photovoltaic cell
A container holding the blue-green algae that powered a microprocessor.

Algae-powered computing: our scientists create a reliable and renewable biological photovoltaic cell

The Howe Group have used a widespread species of blue-green algae to power a microprocessor continuously for a year - and counting - using nothing but ambient light and water. The system has potential as a reliable and renewable way to power small devices.