Category Biology/Biotechnology

The polarized light reflected from the leaf contains a footprint of the leaf’s biopigments. These biosignatures can be detected with a polarization filter, shown here as a pair of sunglasses. Credit: Illustration: Svetlana Berdyugina

Biopigments of plants, so-called biological photosynthetic pigments, leave behind unique traces in the light they reflect, an international team has discovered. The scientists studied these biosignatures with the help of polarization filters: If biopigments were present as a sign of life on a planet, they would leave behind a detectable polarized signature in the reflected light.

Eg Chlorophyll pigments in plant leaves, absorb blue to red light but reflect a small part of green in the visible spectrum and thus appear green...

A pancreatic islet of Langerhans expressing the immunoregulator antimicrobial peptide CRAM (in red). The insulin-producting beta-cells are in green and the glucagon-producting alpha-cells are in blue. Credit: © Julien Diana

A category of antimicrobial peptides, cathelicidins and being researched by a team coordinated by Julien Diana, Inserm Research Fellow at Inserm Unit 1151 is focusing on. Apart from their protective function, these peptides have also exhibited immunoregulatory abilities against several autoimmune diseases.

They observed that beta pancreatic cells in non-diseased mice produce cathelicidins and that, interestingly, this production is impaired in diabetic mice...

A new study reveals that thymus atrophy may stem from a decline in its ability to protect against DNA damage from free radicals. The damage accelerates metabolic dysfunction in the organ, progressively reducing its production of pathogen-fighting T cells. Common antioxidants may slow thymus atrophy and be a Rx strategy for protecting elderly from infections.

“The thymus ages more rapidly than any other tissue in the body, diminishing the ability of older individuals to respond to new immunologic challenges, including evolving pathogens and the vaccines that may otherwise offer protection from them,” says Howard Petrie of SRI. Starting around puberty, the thymus rapidly decreases in size and loses capacity to produce enough new T cells...

Thylakoids are found in chloroplasts in stacks and help in ATP synthesis ie chemisomosis in plants generates ATP is by using a proton concentration gradient which is done in four steps. https://sites.google.com/site/apbiophotosynthesis/chemiosmosis

Thylakoids encourage the release of satiety hormones, which is very beneficial in slowing down fat digestion. The study examines the effect of consuming a single dose of concentrated extract of thylakoids from spinach on satiety, food intake, lipids, and glucose compared to a placebo. 30 males and 30 females, overweight or obese took part in a double-blind randomized crossover study. They consumed either the spinach extract or a placebo in random order at least a week apart...