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Biologists Laura Carolina Leal and Felipe Passos performed a series of experiments in Brazil's Northeast region - specifically in the interior of Bahia State, where the semiarid Caatinga biome predominates - to determine how plants with extrafloral nectaries interact with ants. Extrafloral nectaries are nectar-secreting glands not involved in pollination which supply insects with carbohydrates in exchange for defense against herbivores. The nectar attracts predatory insects that consume [...]

Natural compounds isolated from Nectandra leucantha, a neotropical tree species belonging to the laurel family (Lauraceae) and endemic to the Atlantic Rainforest biome in Brazil, where its common name is canela-seca or canela-branca, could result in new medications for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. In a study supported by São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP, researchers at Adolfo Lutz Institute (IAL) in São Paulo City found that neolignans derived [...]

Flexible electronics is one of the most important trends in technology today. The market is growing so fast that it is expected to double in value in the next decade. Extremely light and even bendable optoelectronic equipment that supplies, detects and controls light will become commonplace in the near future. A great deal of research is progressing in this direction, as exemplified by a paper recently published in Scientific Reports. The paper describes an experimental and theoretical study [...]

Brazilian scientists at São Paulo State University (UNESP) collaborating with colleagues at the University of Maryland and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed a dairy cattle breeding method that adds a new parameter to genetic selection and conserves or even improves a population's genetic diversity. The study, which is published in Journal of Dairy Science, was funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP and USDA. Besides genetic value [...]

The origin of the virus responsible for the ongoing yellow fever epidemic in Brazil, the worst for 40 years, has just been identified by scientists affiliated with two Brazilian institutions: Adolfo Lutz Institute (IAL) and the University of São Paulo (USP). By means of a molecular study of yellow fever viruses found in dead monkeys and in mosquitoes, the group discovered that the strain behind the current epidemic originated in Pará State in North Brazil in 1980. The virus [...]

Researchers have found bullfrog tadpoles with clear signs of infection by ranavirus in Brazil. The specimens were collected from two ponds in the city of Passo Fundo,southof the country (state of Rio Grande do Sul), in November 2017. Ranavirus causes skin ulcerations, edema,andinternal hemorrhage. It does not affect humans but can be lethal to amphibians and fish. This is the first infection of wild amphibians detected in Brazil. "The discovery causes concern, as it's the first time [...]

Researchers at the São Paulo State Cancer Institute (ICESP) in Brazil have succeeded in using a genetically manipulated virus to destroy tumor cells upon injection into mice with prostate cancer. The virus also made tumor cells more sensitive to chemotherapy drugs, halting tumor progression and almost eliminating tumors in some cases. The results were obtained by a team led by BryanEric Strauss, head of the Viral Vector Laboratory at ICESP’s Center for Translational Research in [...]

Brazilian and German scientists have completed a collaborative project to sequence and analyze the whole genome of Arapaima gigas, a giant freshwater fish known in Brazil as pirarucu and elsewhere as arapaima or paiche. Its growth rate is the fastest among known freshwater fish species. Its natural distribution covers most of the Amazon River basin in Peru and Brazil. The research led to discoveries that help determine sex at an early stage, facilitating the separation of female and male fry [...]

Some fungi and bacteria live in close association, or symbiosis, with tree roots in forest soil to obtain mutual benefits. The microorganisms help trees access water and nutrients from the atmosphere or soil, sequester carbon, and withstand the effects of climate change. In exchange, they receive carbohydrates, which are essential to their development and are produced by the trees during photosynthesis. More than 200 scientists from several countries, including 14 from Brazil, collaborated to [...]