Nobel Prize in Chemistry: How protein discoveries benefit research at BASF

Computational protein design and protein structure prediction speed up day-to-day research

05-Dec-2024 - On December 10, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will award this year’s Nobel Prizes in Stockholm, Sweden. The prizes for chemistry this year are all about proteins, considered the building blocks of life. David Baker (University of Washington, Seattle, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, ...

Plastic pollution harms bees: risks for global food security

A new review study is the first to systematically show the harmful effects of nano- and microplastics on bees and other beneficial insects

22-Oct-2024 - Nano- and microplastic particles (NMP) are increasingly polluting urban and rural landscapes, where bees and other beneficial insects come into contact with them. If insects ingest plastic particles from food or the air, it can damage their organs and cause changes in their behaviour, preventing ...

Reducing Herbivore Damage Using Biodiversity Instead of Insecticide

10-Oct-2024 - Pesticides aren’t always necessary: researchers at the University of Zurich have conducted a comprehensive field study showing that damage from herbivores can be reduced by using biodiversity within a plant species. Different plant genotypes can cooperate to help fend off herbivorous ...

Identify, engage, assassinate: How seahorse-like toxins kill insects

Researchers reveal the first-ever detailed structure of the bacterial toxin Mcf1: Useful for engineering novel biopesticides

02-Feb-2024 - Insect-killing bacteria typically release toxins to slay their hosts. The bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens, for example, pumps insect larvae full of the lethal ‘Makes caterpillars floppy 1’ (Mcf1) toxin, leading them to first become droopy and then dead. However, it has so far been a mystery ...

Targeted pest control with RNA spray

Environmentally friendly crop protection: Protecting sugar beets from yellowing viruses

05-Jan-2024 - Protecting plants efficiently against pests without harming other organisms — this is the objective of the joint research project ViVe_Beet, which is coordinated by the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). Scientists from the JKI ...

Insecticides affect aquatic insects in unexpected ways

24-Aug-2023 - Pesticide pollution of streams in agricultural areas has adverse effects for stream organisms. A new study, led by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), provides evidence that aquatic insect larvae respond to insecticide exposure with alterations of ...

Ready, set, here are the Changemakers!

The ISC3 has selected it's finalists for the Innovation Challenge in Sustainable Chemistry and Agriculture

27-Jul-2023 - The fourth ISC3 Innovation Challenge that called for innovations in the field of Sustainable Chemistry and Agriculture has it's finalists! The international jury of experts chose eight finalists from a large number of top-notch applications from five continents. This year, the International ...

Spider venom for therapeutics and bioinsecticides

New biomolecules from wasp spider venom

05-Jan-2022 - The venom of a single spider can contain up to 3000 components. These components, mostly peptides, can be used to develop promising drug leads for the treatment of diseases. Spider venom can also be used as a biological pesticide. A team of scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular ...

Very venomous caterpillar has strange biology

Potential for medicines and pesticides

25-Jun-2021 - The venom of a caterpillar, native to South East Queensland, shows promise for use in medicines and pest control, Institute for Molecular Bioscience researchers say. The Doratifera vulnerans is common to large parts of Queensland's south-east and is routinely found in Toohey Forest Park on ...

Tiny bodyguards

Gentle pest control in food production: Helper bacteria stop and disarm pathogens

03-Sep-2020 - The bacterium Pseudomonas tolaasii triggers brown spot disease in cultivated mushrooms and thus causes considerable harvest losses. The active compound Tolaasin, which is produced by the pathogen, damages the cell membrane of the fungus and the cells die. But with some support the fungus can ...