Insights into Biology

Adaptable Bacteria

Scientists have been studying adaptations a bacteria that lives near hydrothermal vents on the sea floor, and how it survives hold and cold fluctuations.

Why this matters: When most people hear bacteria, they think food poisoning or, in extreme cases, Black Death. But the bacteria that make humans sick are just a tiny, tiny proportion of all the bacteria out there. There are bacteria all over, and they can survive under the most adverse conditions (one reason scientists apparently hold out hope for life on Mars). These particular bacteria hang out next to geysers on the sea floor; conditions are harsh and constantly changing. So scientists are interested in how they can survive. (It's not mentioned in the article, but sequencing this genome must have been an impressive feat; very few bacteria can be grown in lab cultures, and bacteria that are from extreme environments can be especially challenging.)

Interactions

A species of caterpillar can fool ants into thinking it's the queen ant, and receive the royal treatment.

Why this matters: These ants have a sophisticated method for communicating with each other - the article mentions smell and sound. It's not just one channel of sound, either; worker ants have a different sound than queen ants, and they respond appropriately. Being social creatures, communication is key between ants. A parasite - a caterpillar - copies the noises of a queen ant, and successfully gains resources it wouldn't otherwise have.

Ants are fairly simple creatures, as are caterpillars. But there is a whole series of complicated adaptations, communications and deceptions going on that is far from obvious to us. Studying the natural world reveals some amazing interactions and abilities, and puts our own into perspective.

Hijacking a Cell's Machinery

Scientists have found another detail in how the influenza virus hijacks the cell's machinery.

Why this matters: A long debate has raged about whether viruses really count as life. A virus is made up of a protein capsule with nucleotides (DNA or RNA) inside. The virus injects the nucleotides into the cell, hijacks the cells machinery which replicates the nucleotides and makes new protein capsules, new viruses assemble and then break out of the cell. Viruses can't reproduce on their own and lack all the cellular machinery normally associated with life; in effect, they're just a container for information. So do they really count as life, or are they just well-organized collections of molecules?

While the viruses' status is debatable, their negative effects are not. There are viruses that affect bacteria (bacteria get colds, too), plants and, of course, animals. Influenza is a fairly nasty one. The researchers who found out a bit more about how the influenza virus operates speculate that what they've found may ultimately prove to be a drug target.

Move Over Proteins...

A recent Nature publication describes large RNAs that are coded for in the genome, apparently have important functions in the cell, and are not translated into proteins. (The article explaining how they reached their conclusions is well worth the read.)

Why this matters: The classic view of our DNA was that some of the regions of the DNA coded for genes, and some did not. The coding areas were ultimately expressed as proteins; the non-coding areas were a bit of a mystery. For awhile they were written off as "junk DNA" - useless DNA that didn't benefit the cell. Recent research has overturned this notion; for instance, the long RNAs in this article were found in the "junk DNA." Research like this moves us away from our flat DNA-to-protein view, and deepens it to a more complete understanding of how life functions.