Tuesday, 7 February, 2012

Ethanol in gasoline now comes mainly from corn, a food crop. Cellulose, found in crop wastes, wood and switchgrass, could be a great source of ethanol, if only the yeast that makes ethanol could digest cellulose. A new genetic alteration forced yeast to break down cellulose, and then convert it into ethanol.

Chopping onions unleashes a “chemical defense that onion plants have to protect themselves against insects and microbes,” says UW-Madison horticulture professor Irwin Goldman. We’re just innocent bystanders, it seems. Goldman explains that one compartment inside onion cells contains an enzyme, called allinase, while another compartment holds the enzyme’s substrate: a suite of sulfur compounds known [...]

The moment a knife slices through apple—spilling the contents of apple cells along the surface of the cut, and allowing everything to mix—a reaction begins. In particular, an enzyme known as polyphenol oxidase that had been held in check is loosed. Almost immediately, it begins altering polyphenols, a group of health-promoting chemicals with antioxidant activity [...]

Enzyme that helps cancer cells move to a new location is found.