A Japanese research team have applied a method used in human genetic analysis to rice and rapidly discovered four new genes that are potentially significant for agriculture. These findings could influence crop breeding and help combat food shortages caused by a growing population. The paper was published on June 21, 2016 (Japan Standard Time) in the online edition of Nature Genetics.

Selective crop improvement based on plant genetics and breeding is essential to support the world's growing population. In order to efficiently breed new crop varieties it is necessary to rapidly identify the genes related to high crop yields and analyze what makes them special.

While most malaria research has focused on the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which is common in Africa, another parasite, Plasmodium vivax (P.vivax) is responsible for the majority of malaria infections outside this region, causing an estimated 15.8 million clinical malaria cases each year. The parasite is becoming increasingly resistant to common antimalarial drugs, posing challenges for malaria elimination.

Institute researchers Dr Alyssa Barry and Professor Ivo Mueller are part of two international teams studying P.vivax. The teams used cutting-edge genomic techniques to analyse hundreds of clinical samples from malaria-infected people around the globe. The research led to two complementary publications in this month's edition of Nature Genetics.

Stunning new images and the highest-resolution maps to date of Jupiter at thermal infrared wavelengths give a glowing view of Juno's target, a week ahead of the NASA mission's arrival at the giant planet. The maps reveal the present-day temperatures, composition and cloud coverage within Jupiter's dynamic atmosphere, and show how giant storms, vortices and wave patterns shape the appearance of the giant planet. The observations will be presented on Monday 27 June at the National Astronomy Meeting in Nottingham by Dr Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester.

High workload, rigid rules, and conflicting pressures from their employers are all leading to community pharmacy staff deviating from standard procedures at times to ensure patients receive the tailored care they require, a new study from The University of Manchester has found.

The research which was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and published in BMJ Open, analysed interviews with 24 practising staff working at a variety of levels in pharmacies. The interviewees discussed their views and experiences of complying with procedures that had been laid down either for safety or for other company purposes. Participants came from a variety of pharmacy types and from a range of locations across England and Wales.

Respiratory diseases are among the most common ailments in calves. Hubert Pausch from the Chair of Animal Breeding at the Technical University of Munich and his team have now been able to trace a gene mutation responsible in both Braunvieh and Fleckvieh: a recessive mutation that alters the structure of the cilia of the airways is the culprit. It only manifests in homozygous animals. This means that both parents were carriers of the mutation.

The altered structure affects the movement of the cilia, preventing the expulsion of sufficient amounts of secretion from the respiratory tract. Insufficient cleaning of the airways leads to chronic infections. Defective cilia are also the cause of a very rare respiratory disease called primary ciliary dyskinesia in humans.

The immune system is equipped with the mechanisms to adapt to bacterial infection, and one of the keys to this efficient reaction is rooted in changes that take place in the metabolism of mitochondria. These changes are important for adaptation of the response of immune cells to live or dead bacteria. The discovery was made by scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), led by Johan Garaude, Rebeca Acín-Pérez, José A. Enríquez and David Sancho, and is published in Nature Inmunology. The study findings could help in the design of vaccines and provide new pharmacological targets for the treatment of infections and inflammatory metabolic disorders.