PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

New cell component important to tea and wine-making

2013-09-11
(Press-News.org) Scientists have discovered where plants build tannins, complex chemicals used by plants for defence and protection. The source is the tannosome, a newly discovered organelle that is found in most land plants.

All living things are made from cells; whether they are single-celled organisms like amoeba, or enormous entities like Giant Redwoods (in which millions of cells make up the body of the organism). Although cells may become specialised for particular roles in an organism, they each undertake many different tasks. Internally each cell is furnished with a range of smaller bodies – termed organelles – that perform those various essential functions; e.g. chloroplasts in plant cells which are involved in photosynthesis, mitochondria in both animal and plant cells engaged in respiration, and ribosomes that are essential for protein synthesis. Each organelle also produces a range of chemicals for the cell. The scientists were examining the organelles in the cell, and almost overlooked some of them.

Geneviève Conéjéro said: "When we purified for the first time the tannosomes (unknown objects at this time), we thought we had obtained chloroplasts and rejected them as rubbish artifacts. After several trials, we considered that chloroplasts were not the only green objects in plants."

The international team, headquartered at INRA in Montpellier, used a number of techniques to examine the cells in action. In some cases they fixed cells into place, in others they introduced dyes and in more samples they examined spectra, light signatures of chemicals. What they found was that these strange organelles were producing tannins. Until now, no one has known exactly where in the cell tannins have been made. People could see them stored in the vacuole, another organelle in the plant cell, but couldn't work out how they got there.

Geneviève Conéjéro said: "Tannins, also called condensed tannins or proanthocyanidins, are thought to play diverse roles such as defense against herbivores and pathogens or ultraviolet protection. They give feeling of pungency in the mouth, the feel of a cat's tongue licking your hand. Common sense associates tannins with immature unripe fruit, and people ironically say 'this fruit is too green'. More seriously, plant tannins have been used since the Neolithic times to prevent spoilage of animal skins, and therefore first to manufacture leather laces and soles protecting feet of rough ground."

The result was unexpected and was checked and rechecked. Conéjéro added: "To come to that conclusion and propose a somewhat revolutionary model, we needed a multidisciplinary approach associating several microscopy and biochemistry techniques. The most intriguing finding from this study is the very close proximity of the tannin polymerization system and the photosynthesis supercomplexes."

Aside from their protective roles in plants, tannins are also important in making tea and red wine taste the way they do. It isn't every day that a new organelle is identified, but this goes to show that something as commonplace and seemingly familiar as the cell still has secrets to be discovered. Something to think about the next time you have a cuppa or glass of merlot?

### END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Researchers map carbon footprints of UK towns and cities

2013-09-11
The London borough of Newham is famed for producing talents such as Idris Elba, Plan B and Mo Farrah, whilst also playing host to the Olympic Stadium and West Ham United Football Club. Now an international group of researchers have found that its residents have the smallest carbon footprint in the UK. In a study of 434 municipalities across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, they showed that according to data taken from 2004, the lifestyle of each person in Newham caused an average of 10.21 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) to be emitted into the atmosphere ...

Childbirth risks not the same for all obese women

2013-09-11
Obesity raises the chances of complications and medical interventions in childbirth. But a new study by Oxford University shows the risks are not the same for all obese women. For otherwise healthy women, the increase in risk with obesity may not be as great as previously suspected. 'The increased risk was fairly modest for obese women who did not have conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or a previous caesarean section, and the risks were quite low if the woman had given birth previously,' says lead researcher Dr Jennifer Hollowell of the National Perinatal ...

Electronic health records linked to improved care for patients with diabetes

2013-09-11
OAKLAND, Calif., September 10, 2013 — The use of electronic health records in clinical settings was associated with a decrease in emergency room visits and hospitalizations for patients with diabetes, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers examined the medical records of 169,711 diabetic patients over 1 year of age in the Kaiser Permanente diabetes clinical registry before and after the implementation of Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect®, the organization's comprehensive EHR system. They found that patients ...

University of Tennessee professor helps to discover near-Earth asteroid is really a comet

2013-09-11
Some things are not always what they seem—even in space. For 30 years, scientists believed a large near-Earth object was an asteroid. Now, an international team including Joshua Emery, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has discovered it is actually a comet. Called 3552 Don Quixote, the body is the third largest near-Earth object—mostly rocky bodies, or asteroids, that orbit the Sun in the vicinity of Earth. About 5 percent of near-Earth objects are thought to be "dead" comets that have shed all the water and ...

Jurassic jaws: How ancient crocodiles flourished during the age of the dinosaurs

2013-09-11
New research has revealed the hidden past of crocodiles, showing for the first time how these fierce reptiles evolved and survived in a dinosaur dominated world. While most modern crocodiles live in freshwater habitats and feed on mammals and fish, their ancient relatives were extremely diverse – with some built for running around like dogs on land and others adapting to life in the open ocean, imitating the feeding behaviour of today's killer whales. Research published today [11 September] in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows, for the first time, ...

Tingling sensation caused by Asian spice could help patients with chronic pain

2013-09-11
The science behind the tingling sensation caused by eating a popular Asian spice has been explained by researchers at UCL. The study, which is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, helps shed light on the complex interactions between the senses of taste and touch, and could lead to a greater understanding of the causes of the tingling sensations experienced by many chronic pain patients. Widely used in Asian cooking, the Szechuan pepper was found to mimic the sense of touch in the brain. It chemically activates light-touch fibres on the lips and ...

NIH scientists develop new tests to detect drug-resistant malaria

2013-09-11
WHAT: Researchers have developed two tests that can discern within three days whether the malaria parasites in a given patient will be resistant or susceptible to artemisinin, the key drug used to treat malaria. The tests were developed by researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, working with French and Cambodian colleagues in Cambodia. They offer a more rapid, less costly advantage over current drug-responsiveness tests, which require malaria patients to be hospitalized for blood draws ...

5-fold increase in ADHD medication use in children and adolescents

2013-09-11
New Rochelle, NY, September 10, 2013—Use of stimulant medications to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents has increased significantly over the past several years. This trend toward increased use of prescription stimulants extends beyond ADHD to other types of neuropsychiatric disorders in children and teens as well, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to a study published in Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (JCAP), a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is ...

Study details paired risk factors in preeclampsia

2013-09-11
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Although preeclampsia occurs in about 3 percent of pregnancies, it's still unforeseen in many cases. A report of new research, now in press at the Journal of Reproductive Immunology, documents how two distinct risk factors combine to affect the odds that a first-time mother could develop the sometimes life-threatening pregnancy complication. The findings suggest there could be new ways to plan pregnancy with improved awareness and management of the risk. For years evidence has mounted that preeclampsia may have its origin in the mother's ...

How the newest diesel engines emit very little greenhouse gas nitrous oxide

2013-09-11
RICHLAND, Wash. -- The newest catalytic converters in diesel engines blast away a pollutant from combustion with the help of ammonia. Common in European cars, the engines exhaust harmless nitrogen and water. How they do this hasn't been entirely clear. Now, new research shows that the catalyst attacks its target pollutant in an unusual way, providing insight into how to make the best catalytic converters. Reporting in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a team of researchers in the Institute for Integrated Catalysis at the Department of Energy's Pacific ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New evidence of long-distance travelers in Seddin during the Bronze Age

Newly dated 85-million-year-old dino eggs could improve understanding of Cretaceous climate

From noise to power: A symmetric ratchet motor discovery

Family-based intervention programs are insufficient to prevent childhood obesity, major study finds

Emotions expressed in real-time barrage comments relate to purchasing intentions and imitative behavior

Your genes could prune your gut bugs and protect you from disease

EMBARGOED MEDIA RELEASE: Breathlessness increases long-term mortality risk, Malawi study finds

Permeable inspection of pharmaceuticals goes in-line

Warming rivers in Alaska threaten Chinook salmon populations and Indigenous food security

New multi-disciplinary approach sheds light on the role of mitochondrial DNA mutations in cancer

Worms reveal just how cramped cells really are

Alzheimer’s disease digital resources lacking for Latinos, Hispanics in Los Angeles years after COVID-19, study finds

Chronic disease deaths decline globally, but progress is slowing

The Lancet: Chronic disease deaths decline globally, but progress is slowing

The Lancet: Parent-focused programs insufficient to prevent obesity in toddlers, finds meta-analysis; authors call for a re-think of childhood obesity prevention approaches

Study sheds light on hurdles faced in transforming NHS healthcare with AI

Astrocytic “brake” that blocks spinal cord repair identified

As farm jobs decline, food industry work holds steady

Kennesaw State researcher aiming to move AI beyond the cloud

Revolutionizing impedance flow cytometry with adjustable microchannel height

Treating opioid addiction in jails improves treatment engagement, reduces overdose deaths and reincarceration

Can’t sleep? Insomnia associated with accelerated brain aging

Study links teacher turnover to higher rates of student suspensions, disciplinary referrals

How harmful bacteria hijack crops

Crowded conditions muddle frogs’ mating choices

A new way to guide light, undeterred

Researchers uncover how COVID-19 may linger in cancer patients and affect treatment outcomes

Tiny metal figurines from Sardinia's Nuragic civilization in around 1,000 BC reveal extensive ancient Mediterranean metal trading networks

Natural microfibers may degrade differently to synthetic materials under simulated sunlight exposure in freshwater and seawater conditions, with implications for how such pollutants affect aquatic lif

Indian new mums report better postpartum wellbeing when their own mum acts as their primary support - while women whose mother-in-law is the primary caregiver instead report significantly lower overal

[Press-News.org] New cell component important to tea and wine-making