Microsurgery in an insect reveals flexibility of limb motor control

Scientists at the Universities of Leicester and Cambridge have carried out microsurgery on the legs of locusts to investigate the role of internal sense organs in the control of limb movements. Drs Keri Page and Tom Matheson artificially shortened the tendon of a leg joint receptor and then measured the animals’ ability to make aimed leg movements. The surgery led to an immediate systematic error in the movements but, remarkably, after a week’s recovery the accuracy returned to normal. This indicates that there is compensation for the erroneous sensory signal and reflects considerable plasticity in the control system for leg movements. The work is an important step forward in understanding how sensory signals are used to guide actions.

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Original source article.

Dr Tom Matheson

This work was published in the Journal of Neuroscience and was funded by the BBSRC.

New Breakthrough in Global Warming Plant Production

Researchers one step closer to ‘Holy Grail’ of plant biology research

Researchers at the universities of Leicester and Oxford have made a discovery about plant growth which could potentially have an enormous impact on crop production as global warming increases.

Dr Kerry Franklin, from the University of Leicester Department of Biology led the study which has identified a single gene responsible for controlling plant growth responses to elevated temperature.

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Dr Kerry Franklin

The work has been published in Current Biology (10 March 2009) and was funded by the Royal Society and the BBSRC.

Plant biologists discover gene that switches on 'essence of male'

Study identifies role of gene responsible for plant sperm production

Biologists at the University of Leicester have published results of a new study into plant sex – and discovered that a particular gene switches on 'the essence of male'. The study takes to a new level understanding of the genes needed for successful plant reproduction and seed production.

Professor David Twell and colleagues in the Department of Biology at the University of Leicester report a dual role for DUO1, a regulatory gene required for plant sperm cell production and show that the DUO1 gene is required to promote the division of sperm precursor cells, while at the same time promoting their specialised function as sperm cells. “It effectively switches on the essence of male”.

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Their study is reported in the journal Public Library of Science Genetics (PLoS Genetics) and was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

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Links:

Professor Dave Twell

Twell lab home page

Bumblebee colonies which are fast learners are also better able to fight off infection, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Leicester. Dr Nigel Raine from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, and Akram Alghamdi, Ezio Rosato and Eamonn Mallon from the University of Leicester tested the learning performance and immune responses of bumblebees from twelve colonies.

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Eamonn Mallon

Nigel Raine

Biologists discover gene behind ‘plant sex mystery’
An enigma – unique to flowering plants – has been solved by researchers from the University of Leicester (UK) and POSTECH, South Korea.
The discovery is reported in the journal Nature on 23 October 2008. Professor David Twell, of the Department of Biology at the University of Leicester and Professor Hong Gil Nam of POSTECH, South Korea report the discovery of a gene that has a critical role in allowing precursor reproductive cells to divide to form twin sperm cells.

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Professor Dave Twell

Twell lab home page