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Life Sciences - 03.09.2018 
How does Harlequin Ladybug draw black dots or red dots?
What distinguishes black ladybirds with red dots from red ladybugs with black dots? Children - as adults - have one day asked this question. Researchers have identified the genetic variations responsible for the different coloration patterns of Harlequin ladybugs. They have just identified the gene that alone has all the necessary instructions to draw the different patterns that decorate the wings.
Life Sciences - 30.08.2018 
A brain mechanism involved in mediated learning is identified
Imagine that you are eating a Granny apple under a red parasol on the terrace of a public garden. The next day you eat another Granny apple at home in your kitchen, but soon afterwards find yourself ill. The next time you go back to the public garden, you avoid sitting under that red parasol. While there may not seem to be a link between the parasol and the fact that you were ill, there actually is! This is an example of the mediated learning process, and researchers from INRA and INSERM have just identified the brain mechanism involved in it.
Life Sciences - Health - 22.08.2018 
The influence of genetics on nutritional requirements
Approximately 0.1%: that is the average genetic difference between two individuals. This small percentage is responsible for the variations of certain physical traits, such as eyes, hair, and height, but also for differences in our susceptibility to certain diseases and our capacity to absorb vitamins and phytomicronutrients (carotenoids, polyphenols, etc.), involved in the prevention of chronic disease.
Life Sciences - Agronomy / Food Science - 17.08.2018 
New perspectives to improve wheat: the reference sequence of wheat genome is finally a reality
The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), of which INRA is a leading member, published the first wheat genome reference sequence in Science , on 17 August 2018. French research teams from INRA, CEA, and the universities of Clermont-Auvergne, Evry, Paris-Sud and Paris-Saclay contributed to the project, a scientific milestone due to the enormous complexity and size of the genome - five times larger than the human genome and forty times larger than the rice genome.
Life Sciences - Social Sciences - 06.08.2018 
Mice’s individuality is influenced by their relations
Individuality is not exclusive to humans. Though this idea was previously rebutted by biologists, today it is accepted that individuality is found in all animal species. It is defined as all the behavior differences between individuals of a single species that are relatively stable over time. Though the process called individuation is supported by genetic and development components, researchers have just demonstrated in mice that the social environment and activity of some neurons also participate in determining the emergence of distinct individuals.
Environment - Life Sciences - 30.07.2018 
Largest king penguin colony has shrunk nearly 90%
The world's biggest colony of king penguins is found in the National Nature Reserve of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). Using high-resolution satellite images, researchers from the Chizé Centre for Biological Studies (CNRS / University of La Rochelle) 1 have detected a massive 88% reduction in the size of the penguin colony, located on Île aux Cochons, in the Îles Crozet archipelago.
Life Sciences - Innovation - 14.06.2018 
Jacket for cardiorespiratory monitoring of laboratory animals
To meet their objective of offering connected devices for the physiological monitoring of laboratory animals without recourse to anesthesia or surgery, researchers from the TIMC-IMAG laboratory (CNRS / Université Grenoble Alpes / Grenoble INP / VetAgro Sup) have developed a jacket that measures rodent cardiac and respiratory activity.
Life Sciences - 11.06.2018 
Pandoravirus : giant viruses invent their own genes
Three new members have been isolated and added to the Pandoravirus family by researchers at the Structural and Genomic Information Laboratory (CNRS/Aix‐Marseille Université), working with partners at the Large Scale Biology Laboratory (CEA/Inserm/Université Grenoble‐Alpes) and at CEA-Genoscope.
Life Sciences - Chemistry - 11.06.2018 
Alzheimer’s disease : how amyloid aggregates alter neuronal function
The accumulation of amyloid peptides in the form of plaques in the brain is one of the primary indicators of Alzheimer's disease.
Life Sciences - 07.06.2018 
Bees and the thought of naught
Honeybees can conceive and interpret zero. This has just been demonstrated by a scientist from the Research Centre on Animal Cognition (CNRS / Université Toulouse III—Paul Sabatier) and her Australian colleagues, proving for the first time ever that insects are capable of mathematical abstraction. As zero, designating nothingness, neutrality, or absence, is a relatively recent concept for humans, Though some vertebrates had already been shown to master complex numerical concepts like addition and zero, no evidence of this existed for insects.
Health - Life Sciences - 07.06.2018 
Nextbiotix raises ¤ 7m in a Series A round to tackle inflammatory bowel diseases
Nextbiotix, a microbiome biotech company developing innovative Live Biotherapeutics using commensal bacteria as drugs to treat major inflammatory bowel diseases, today announced that it has completed a ¤7m Series A financing round to bring its lead candidate into the clinic.
Life Sciences - Health - 04.06.2018 
The search for the origin of mast cells
A team of researchers from CNRS, INSERM and Aix-Marseille Université (AMU) at the Centre of immunology (Marseille-Luminy (CIML), together with the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) 1 , has proven that not all of the immune system's important mast cells are produced in bone marrow, as was previously thought.
Life Sciences - Health - 31.05.2018 
Bacteria ensure square meal for bloodsucking ticks
How do ticks live solely on blood? A study presented in Current Biology (May 31, 2018) has elucidated the crucial role played by symbiotic bacteria that synthesize B vitamins. These nutrients are scarcely found in the blood ticks ingest but are essential to their life cycle. Thus ticks cannot survive to adulthood or reproduce without their bacterial symbionts.
Life Sciences - 24.05.2018 
A supergene to stay alive
Some butterflies rely mainly on colorful wing patterns for their survival. CNRS researchers from the Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (CNRS / University of Montpellier / Paul-Valéry University / EPHE-PSL / IRD), together with British and American teams, studied the genomes of dozens of tropical Heliconius numata butterflies to understand how such diversity in color motifs has come about.
Life Sciences - Health - 02.05.2018 
Why plants are so sensitive to gravity : The lowdown
Plants can detect the slightest angle of inclination. Yet the mechanism by which they sense gravity relies on microscopic grains. In theory, such a system should hardly allow for precise detection of inclination. Researchers from the CNRS, the French National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA), and Université Clermont Auvergne have now explained this curious paradox.
Life Sciences - History / Archeology - 30.04.2018 
The rose genome deciphered: from the origin of modern roses to the characteristics of their blooms
The rose: an ornamental plant emblematic of the cultural and economic history of mankind. An international consortium involving INRA, ENS de Lyon, CEA, CNRS and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, has deciphered the genome of the rose. This work has enabled them to trace the respective contributions of European and Chinese roses to the genome of modern plants, and identify all the genes involved in the pathways for the biosynthesis of perfume and colour.
Life Sciences - Physics - 09.04.2018
Life Sciences - Health - 05.04.2018 
Eating less enables lemurs to live longer
Chronic caloric restriction strongly increases the lifespan of a small primate, the grey mouse lemur. This is one of the results of a ten-year experiment conducted by researchers at the CNRS and the French National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), in partnership with other French teams. Chronic caloric restriction consists in eating a reduced but balanced diet from the outset of early adulthood.
Life Sciences - Health - 27.03.2018 
BIABooster : a more sensitive device for characterizing DNA in blood circulation
Developed and patented 1 in 2012 and 2014 in the Laboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture des Systèmes (LAAS-CNRS) and implemented industrially by Picometrics-Technologies, BIABooster technology can characterize DNA with new precision and sensitivity. When used to analyze residual DNA circulating in the blood, it has identified promising signatures for monitoring patients with cancer.
Life Sciences - Health - 19.03.2018
Life Sciences
Results 21 - 40 of 45.
What distinguishes black ladybirds with red dots from red ladybugs with black dots? Children - as adults - have one day asked this question. Researchers have identified the genetic variations responsible for the different coloration patterns of Harlequin ladybugs. They have just identified the gene that alone has all the necessary instructions to draw the different patterns that decorate the wings.
Imagine that you are eating a Granny apple under a red parasol on the terrace of a public garden. The next day you eat another Granny apple at home in your kitchen, but soon afterwards find yourself ill. The next time you go back to the public garden, you avoid sitting under that red parasol. While there may not seem to be a link between the parasol and the fact that you were ill, there actually is! This is an example of the mediated learning process, and researchers from INRA and INSERM have just identified the brain mechanism involved in it.
Approximately 0.1%: that is the average genetic difference between two individuals. This small percentage is responsible for the variations of certain physical traits, such as eyes, hair, and height, but also for differences in our susceptibility to certain diseases and our capacity to absorb vitamins and phytomicronutrients (carotenoids, polyphenols, etc.), involved in the prevention of chronic disease.
The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), of which INRA is a leading member, published the first wheat genome reference sequence in Science , on 17 August 2018. French research teams from INRA, CEA, and the universities of Clermont-Auvergne, Evry, Paris-Sud and Paris-Saclay contributed to the project, a scientific milestone due to the enormous complexity and size of the genome - five times larger than the human genome and forty times larger than the rice genome.
Individuality is not exclusive to humans. Though this idea was previously rebutted by biologists, today it is accepted that individuality is found in all animal species. It is defined as all the behavior differences between individuals of a single species that are relatively stable over time. Though the process called individuation is supported by genetic and development components, researchers have just demonstrated in mice that the social environment and activity of some neurons also participate in determining the emergence of distinct individuals.
The world's biggest colony of king penguins is found in the National Nature Reserve of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). Using high-resolution satellite images, researchers from the Chizé Centre for Biological Studies (CNRS / University of La Rochelle) 1 have detected a massive 88% reduction in the size of the penguin colony, located on Île aux Cochons, in the Îles Crozet archipelago.
To meet their objective of offering connected devices for the physiological monitoring of laboratory animals without recourse to anesthesia or surgery, researchers from the TIMC-IMAG laboratory (CNRS / Université Grenoble Alpes / Grenoble INP / VetAgro Sup) have developed a jacket that measures rodent cardiac and respiratory activity.
Three new members have been isolated and added to the Pandoravirus family by researchers at the Structural and Genomic Information Laboratory (CNRS/Aix‐Marseille Université), working with partners at the Large Scale Biology Laboratory (CEA/Inserm/Université Grenoble‐Alpes) and at CEA-Genoscope.
The accumulation of amyloid peptides in the form of plaques in the brain is one of the primary indicators of Alzheimer's disease.
Honeybees can conceive and interpret zero. This has just been demonstrated by a scientist from the Research Centre on Animal Cognition (CNRS / Université Toulouse III—Paul Sabatier) and her Australian colleagues, proving for the first time ever that insects are capable of mathematical abstraction. As zero, designating nothingness, neutrality, or absence, is a relatively recent concept for humans, Though some vertebrates had already been shown to master complex numerical concepts like addition and zero, no evidence of this existed for insects.
Nextbiotix, a microbiome biotech company developing innovative Live Biotherapeutics using commensal bacteria as drugs to treat major inflammatory bowel diseases, today announced that it has completed a ¤7m Series A financing round to bring its lead candidate into the clinic.
A team of researchers from CNRS, INSERM and Aix-Marseille Université (AMU) at the Centre of immunology (Marseille-Luminy (CIML), together with the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) 1 , has proven that not all of the immune system's important mast cells are produced in bone marrow, as was previously thought.
How do ticks live solely on blood? A study presented in Current Biology (May 31, 2018) has elucidated the crucial role played by symbiotic bacteria that synthesize B vitamins. These nutrients are scarcely found in the blood ticks ingest but are essential to their life cycle. Thus ticks cannot survive to adulthood or reproduce without their bacterial symbionts.
Some butterflies rely mainly on colorful wing patterns for their survival. CNRS researchers from the Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (CNRS / University of Montpellier / Paul-Valéry University / EPHE-PSL / IRD), together with British and American teams, studied the genomes of dozens of tropical Heliconius numata butterflies to understand how such diversity in color motifs has come about.
Plants can detect the slightest angle of inclination. Yet the mechanism by which they sense gravity relies on microscopic grains. In theory, such a system should hardly allow for precise detection of inclination. Researchers from the CNRS, the French National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA), and Université Clermont Auvergne have now explained this curious paradox.
The rose: an ornamental plant emblematic of the cultural and economic history of mankind. An international consortium involving INRA, ENS de Lyon, CEA, CNRS and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, has deciphered the genome of the rose. This work has enabled them to trace the respective contributions of European and Chinese roses to the genome of modern plants, and identify all the genes involved in the pathways for the biosynthesis of perfume and colour.
ERC Advanced Grants : CNRS in the lead among European institutions
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the recipients of its 2017 Advanced Grants, awarded to experienced male and female researchers well known in their fields.
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the recipients of its 2017 Advanced Grants, awarded to experienced male and female researchers well known in their fields.
Chronic caloric restriction strongly increases the lifespan of a small primate, the grey mouse lemur. This is one of the results of a ten-year experiment conducted by researchers at the CNRS and the French National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), in partnership with other French teams. Chronic caloric restriction consists in eating a reduced but balanced diet from the outset of early adulthood.
Developed and patented 1 in 2012 and 2014 in the Laboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture des Systèmes (LAAS-CNRS) and implemented industrially by Picometrics-Technologies, BIABooster technology can characterize DNA with new precision and sensitivity. When used to analyze residual DNA circulating in the blood, it has identified promising signatures for monitoring patients with cancer.
How allergens trigger asthma attacks
A team of Inserm and CNRS researchers from the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology—or IPBS (CNRS / Université Toulouse III—Paul Sabatier)—have identified a protein that acts like a sensor detecting various allergens in the respiratory tract responsible for asthma attacks.
A team of Inserm and CNRS researchers from the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology—or IPBS (CNRS / Université Toulouse III—Paul Sabatier)—have identified a protein that acts like a sensor detecting various allergens in the respiratory tract responsible for asthma attacks.
