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Plant biotechnologists elucidate the mechanism that leads to higher seed yields in tobacco plants by transporting fatty acids - in addition to sugar - via the nutrient-carrying transport vessels When there is drought, a pathogen attack, or too much salt in the soil, plants are faced with a constant series of stress factors.

Skeletal editing employed to enlarge molecule rings Molecules with a central ring system play an important role in the search for active ingredients for new pharmaceutical products - and it is important that the rings should have the correct size if the desired product is to be manufactured as efficiently as possible.

IT specialists and physicians develop new method for recognising genetic aberrations Decisions on treatment for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) - a highly aggressive form of leukemia - are based, among other things, on a series of certain genetic features of the disease; but at the time when a diagnosis is made, this information is not available.

Defective ion channel in sperm flagellum renders men infertile and frustrates medically assisted reproduction In half of the couples that are unable to conceive a child, the infertility is due to the man. A new study identifies the defective function of 'CatSper', an ion channel controlling calcium levels in sperm, as a common cause of seemingly unexplained male infertility.

China covers its demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel for batteries by recycling, ahead of Europe and the USA. With the increasing production of batteries for electric vehicles, the demand for the necessary raw materials is also rising. In view of the supply risks, environmental problems and precarious working conditions associated with the extraction and transportation of these raw materials, the recycling of battery materials has become an important topic in science, politics and industry.

Andrea Rentmeister's team detects methylated sites with click chemistry The genetic information of an organism is stored in the form of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in every cell. In order to be able to produce proteins with this blueprint, the DNA is first transcribed into so-called mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid).

Over 2,000 seal impressions discovered provide vivid insights into city administration in Roman Antiquity Archaeologists from the Asia Minor Research Centre have uncovered the city archives in the ancient city of Doliche in south-eastern Türkiye and recovered more than 2,000 seal impressions used to seal documents.

As we all know, only what goes in goes out: how flexible the heart walls are is therefore also crucial for the heart's pumping function. A working group from the Institute of Physiology II at the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster has been able to show for the first time which structural elements influence this flexibility and to what extent.

Scientists also recover more than 2,000 seal impressions in the ancient city of Doliche Archaeologists from the Asia Minor Research Center have uncovered the city archives in the ancient city of Doliche in south-eastern Turkey and recovered more than 2,000 seal impressions used to seal documents. The team led by Michael Blömer and Engelbert Winter from the University of Münster thus made a significant discovery: although there were archives for storing contracts in every city, for example, only a handful of archive buildings from the Roman Empire have been identified to date.

International team of researchers develops photonic processor with adaptive neural connectivity Modern computer models - for example for complex, potent AI applications - push traditional digital computer processes to their limits. New types of computing architecture, which emulate the working principles of biological neural networks, hold the promise of faster, more energy-efficient data processing.

Researchers find new physical effects in systems consisting of particles with an orientation-dependent propulsion speed Investigating systems consisting of self-propelled particles - so-called active particles - is a rapidly growing area of research. In theoretical models for active particles, it is often assumed that the particles' swimming speed is always the same.

Research team from the University of Münster presents synthesis method in Nature Chemistry Fluorinated small molecules are very often used to produce medicines or agrochemicals. However, they rarely occur naturally. The societal importance of fluorinated substances, combined with the lack of natural sources, has created a demand for effective, sustainable methods to generate new fluorinated motifs - molecular structures containing one or more fluorine atom - from relatively simple starting materials.

Researchers bemoan low level of awareness of the problem / Münster andrologists involved in study published in Nature Reviews Urology journal At least one in seven heterosexual couples worldwide is involuntarily childless. The reason is not only the woman's infertility but also, in almost just as many cases, infertility in the man.

Five high-performance microscopes at the University of Münster Many people are as fascinated by the microworld and the nanoworld as others are by the cosmos or the deep seas. These worlds seem to be inaccessible, apparently hidden from human eyes. However, across a wide range of disciplines, microscopes make it possible to take ever deeper and more precise looks at the smallest of details, and in ever higher resolutions - right down to atomic structures.

Physicists investigate 2D materials with very special properties Postdoc Dr. Nihit Saigal, a member of Prof. Ursula Wurstbauer's team at Münster University's Institute of Physics, has got everything ready in the laboratory to produce an ultra-thin, two-dimensional material - a silver-coloured crystal of molybdenum disulphide, a viscoelastic polymer film.

Something that is particularly important for the system is the role played by peroxisomes in fat metabolism. This is because they not only dismantle the fats, they also convert them into usable energy which itself is indispensable for a variety of processes in the body. Without peroxisomes, dangerous quantities of certain fats can accumulate, which would give rise to serious health problems.

Chemical on-surface synthesis under extremely clean conditions permits controlled synthesis of N'heterocyclic ballbot-type polymers N'heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are small, reactive ring molecules which bond well with metallic surfaces and which, over the past few years, have attracted a great deal of interest in the field of the stable chemical modification of metallic surfaces.

Chemists from the University of Münster publish new study in -Nature- Just like our hands, certain organic molecules relate to each other like an image and its reflection - a phenomenon that chemists call "chirality" or "handedness". The two mirror images of the same molecule, namely both enantiomers, often possess different biological properties.

Mystery of blood-brain barrier unraveled: researchers find substrates with high importance for the barrier During neuroinflammation, immune cells such as leukocytes cross the blood-brain barrier. One key to this is the gelatinases matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and -9. Until now, the substrates of these enzymes involved in the process were unknown.

Biologists investigate molecular processes responsible for reprogramming at the protein level We already learn in school that plants carry out photosynthesis in their chloroplasts when exposed to light. In the dark, this process comes to a halt. Instead, green plant tissue - for example the leaves - then activate cellular respiration, during which they consume carbohydrates and oxygen in the mitochondria, similarly to what humans are constantly doing.