Just like animals, plants often face threats from their environment, including attacks by parasites, pests, and grazing animals. Unlike animals, however, plants cannot simply move away from the source of such threats. A new study from researchers at NIPGR, New Delhi, offers insights into the intricacies of the plant defence system and how it recognizes and responds to danger, particularly from insect pests.

A sustained collaborative effort from three very different laboratories, including a father-daughter scientific duo, has resulted in the observation that the neurotransmitter serotonin regulates energy levels in neurons with the help of Sirt1, a protein known for its role in ageing and lifespan regulation.

Since their initial discovery several decades ago, stem cells have faced intensive study due to their potential medical applications and fascinating biology. A question that has long interested scientists is how do stem cells continue to remain in an undifferentiated or 'uncommitted' state, unlike every other cell type in the body? Now, a new study from researchers at the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) sheds light on this unique problem.

The cell is a factory where every component needs to be in its proper place at the proper time for continued function and survival. A new study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, explores how cells manage this remarkable feat of ensuring that the right molecules find their way to the right locations within the cell.

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite well known for its ability to alter its hosts behaviour by targeting neurological pathways.Researchers from the University of Delhi have come up with a novel way to counter infection by this intracellular parasite, using a drug that triggers the infected cell's suicide mechanism, thus killing the parasite residing inside it.

Salmonella typhimurium is a pathogenic bacterium that causes food-borne infections in humans. Researchers from the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, find that Salmonella globally alters a post-translational protein modification called Sumoylation in infected cells and manipulates the host cell’s intracellular transport machinery.

Chromatin released from dying cancer cells can penetrate healthy cells and make them cancerous. This raises questions about conventional theories of cancer metastasis and also opens up new avenues for cancer diagnostics.