A research team shows that small phenolic acids can dramatically enhance the activity of tetracycline against multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli.

Inducible promoters provide remarkable utility when sustained transgene expression compromises plant development or agronomic performance. In this study, four different plant heat shock protein (HSP) promoters were characterized in the vegetative tissues of stably transformed sugarcane to evaluate their efficacy and spatial expression profiles when directing the expression of a uidA reporter gene. This study produced new quantitative knowledge on the temporal and spatial expression of HSP promoters in sugarcane, expanding the promoter toolbox for crop biotechnology to support gene function studies and biotechnology applications, including precision gene editing and complex metabolic engineering.

The CRISPR “gene scissors” have become an important basis for genome-editing technologies in many fields, ranging from biology and medicine to agriculture and industry. A team from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg has now demonstrated that these CRISPR-Cas systems are even more versatile than previously thought. In cooperation with the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and Utah State University (USU) in Logan (USA), the scientists have discovered a novel CRISPR defense mechanism: Unlike known nucleases, Cas12a3 specifically destroys transfer ribonucleic acids (tRNA) that are vital for protein production to shut down infected cells. The team published its findings today in the journal Nature.