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Research
Root and tuber crops are a major food source in tropical Africa. Among these crops are several species in the monocotyledonous genus Dioscorea collectively known as yam, a staple tuber crop that contributes enorm...
BMC Biology 2017 15:86
Published on: 19 September 2017
Comment
The first report of multiple, blind, wild birds in good health suggests vision is not necessary for the survival of kiwi.
BMC Biology 2017 15:85
Published on: 15 September 2017
Review
Antibiotic natural products are ancient and so is resistance. Consequently, environmental bacteria harbor numerous and varied antibiotic resistance elements. Nevertheless, despite long histories of antibiotic ...
BMC Biology 2017 15:84
Published on: 15 September 2017
Question and Answer
In this question and answer article we discuss how evolution shapes morphology (the shape and pattern of our bodies) but also how learning about morphology, and specifically how that morphology arises during d...
BMC Biology 2017 15:83
Published on: 15 September 2017
Question and Answer
Neurons relevant to a particular behavior are often widely dispersed across the brain. To record activity in groups of individual neurons that might be distributed across large distances, neuroscientists and o...
BMC Biology 2017 15:82
Published on: 14 September 2017
Review
Driving endonuclease genes (DEGs) spread through a population by a non-Mendelian mechanism. In a heterozygote, the protein encoded by a DEG causes a double-strand break in the homologous chromosome opposite to...
BMC Biology 2017 15:81
Published on: 11 September 2017
Research article
Similar to other eukaryotes, splicing is emerging as an important process affecting development and stress tolerance in plants. Ski-interacting protein (SKIP), a splicing factor, is essential for circadian clo...
BMC Biology 2017 15:80
Published on: 11 September 2017
Research article
Members of the thioester-containing protein (TEP) family contribute to host defence in both insects and mammals. However, their role in the immune response of Drosophila is elusive. In this study, we address the ...
BMC Biology 2017 15:79
Published on: 5 September 2017
Review
For a subset of genes in our genome a change in gene dosage, by duplication or deletion, causes a phenotypic effect. These dosage-sensitive genes may confer an advantage upon copy number change, but more typic...
BMC Biology 2017 15:78
Published on: 1 September 2017
Question and Answer
Genomic evidence has demonstrated that humans and Neanderthals interbred. Today, the genomes of most individuals outside Africa contain 2–3% Neanderthal DNA. However, it is still hotly debated why the Neandert...
BMC Biology 2017 15:73
Published on: 1 September 2017
Research article
Amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus) was a food staple among the ancient civilizations of Central and South America that has recently received increased attention due to the high nutritional value of the seeds, ...
BMC Biology 2017 15:74
Published on: 31 August 2017
Interview
Helen Saibil is Bernal Professor of Structural Biology at Birkbeck, University of London. After undergraduate work at McGill University, Canada, Helen moved to London for her PhD at Kings College. After stints...
BMC Biology 2017 15:77
Published on: 31 August 2017
Research article
While methods for annotation of genes are increasingly reliable, the exact identification of translation initiation sites remains a challenging problem. Since the N-termini of proteins often contain regulatory...
BMC Biology 2017 15:76
Published on: 30 August 2017
Research article
Polymorphic toxins (PTs) are multi-domain bacterial exotoxins belonging to distinct families that share common features in terms of domain organization. PTs are found in all major bacterial clades, including m...
BMC Biology 2017 15:75
Published on: 29 August 2017
Research article
Disrupting sleep during development leads to lasting deficits in chordates and arthropods. To address lasting impacts of sleep deprivation in Caenorhabditis elegans, we established a nonlethal deprivation protoco...
BMC Biology 2017 15:67
Published on: 28 August 2017
Erratum
BMC Biology 2017 15:72
Published on: 18 August 2017
The original article was published in BMC Biology 2017 15:66
Review
Strong DNA conservation among divergent species is an indicator of enduring functionality. With weaker sequence conservation we enter a vast ‘twilight zone’ in which sequence subject to transient or lower cons...
BMC Biology 2017 15:71
Published on: 16 August 2017
Research article
The phylum Apicomplexa includes intracellular parasites causing immense global disease burden, the deadliest of them being the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which invades and replicates within ery...
BMC Biology 2017 15:70
Published on: 15 August 2017
Erratum
BMC Biology 2017 15:69
Published on: 15 August 2017
The original article was published in BMC Biology 2017 15:63
Review
Researchers have long sought to understand the genetic basis of the cognitive differences between primates, with particular focus on the human brain. Although all mutational types have worked in concert with e...
BMC Biology 2017 15:68
Published on: 11 August 2017
Research article
Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa zea are major caterpillar pests of Old and New World agriculture, respectively. Both, particularly H. armigera, are extremely polyphagous, and H. a...
BMC Biology 2017 15:63
Published on: 31 July 2017
The Erratum to this article has been published in BMC Biology 2017 15:69
Research article
The duplication of genes can occur through various mechanisms and is thought to make a major contribution to the evolutionary diversification of organisms. There is increasing evidence for a large-scale duplic...
BMC Biology 2017 15:62
Published on: 31 July 2017
Research article
Biological mineral formation (biomineralization) proceeds in specialized compartments often bounded by a lipid bilayer membrane. Currently, the role of membranes in biomineralization is hardly understood.
BMC Biology 2017 15:65
Published on: 24 July 2017
Research article
Transmembrane helices (TMHs) frequently occur amongst protein architectures as means for proteins to attach to or embed into biological membranes. Physical constraints such as the membrane’s hydrophobicity and...
BMC Biology 2017 15:66
Published on: 24 July 2017
The Erratum to this article has been published in BMC Biology 2017 15:72
Question and Answer
Human language is unique among all forms of animal communication. It is unlikely that any other species, including our close genetic cousins the Neanderthals, ever had language, and so-called sign ‘language’ i...
BMC Biology 2017 15:64
Published on: 24 July 2017
