Northwestern researchers made progress on new biochemical possibilities this week, in both the human brain and everyday farming soil. The Daily compiled a recap of these developments.
Using the immune system to stop the “amyloid cascade” of Alzheimer’s
Researchers at NU’s Feinberg School of Medicine recently discovered how different genes affect amyloid beta treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.
Amyloid beta plaques, lumps of waste protein that accumulate in the brain, have long been understood as a key factor in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Many proposed Alzheimer’s treatments make use of the immune system to clear these plaques before they lead to irreversible damage, but the process is more complex than simply using immune cells to “clean” the brain, with complicated genetics involved.
To determine if brain immune cells can perform their regular functions after amyloid beta treatment configures them to remove plaques, a question asked by Feinberg researcher David Gate, the study mapped out where gene expression occurs in a tissue or cell to monitor biological processes. Examining the brain tissue donated from deceased Alzheimer’s patients, researchers found that samples from patients with amyloid beta treatments had brain immune cell efficiency influenced by different genes.
Understanding these characteristics could allow for treatments that prevent the “domino effect” of amyloid beta buildup before it becomes unmanageable, as well as more effective amyloid beta treatments in the future.
Iron oxide reactions in the soil help synthesize inorganic phosphorus for plants
Researchers found that iron oxides in soil catalyze reactions that produce phosphorus, an essential nutrient for plants, are most often supplied through fertilizers for agriculture.
Within soil, the majority of phosphorus is organic, contained in dead biological matter. However, plants require inorganic phosphorus, the element itself, in order to function.
A new paper found another pathway from which plants obtain inorganic phosphorus: iron oxides. These ionic compounds composed of iron and oxygen “trap phosphorus because they have different charges,” McCormick Prof. Ludmilla Aristilde said.
To determine different oxides’ effectiveness at splitting phosphorus, Aristilde and her team examined the amount of inorganic phosphorus in soil samples with different concentrations of ribonucleotides, a source of organic phosphorus. They found that different iron oxides were more effective for producing phosphorus from different ribonucleotides.
Aristilde hopes that more research on oxides’ roles in synthesizing inorganic phosphorus in the soil will prevent future food insecurity by providing alternatives to the nonrenewable phosphate rock currently used for fertilizers.
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