Vitality Vixens

Researchers are rushing to cryofreeze at-risk plants and save them from extinction
Native plants in Australia are in grave danger due to a fungal disease. Here is how cryopreservation might save them.
Myrtle rust is a serious threat to plant biodiversity
An invasive fungal disease called myrtle rust is affecting hundreds of Myrtaceae family plant species in Australia.

Myrtle rust is caused by the fungal pathogen Austropuccinia psidii, and there are multiple myrtle rust strains. The current fungal pandemic strain already entered Australia in 2010 and spread up and down the East Coast. Last year, the disease was reported in Western Australia for the first time, raising great concern as this region contains an incredible amount of Australia’s Myrtaceae biodiversity.

For conservationists in Australia looking to protect plants from this fungal disease, it’s already desperation mode. So researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) have devised a cryopreservation method that promises to solve this problem. The new method allows scientists to grow plants facing the risk of extinction in lab settings just by using their cryo-preserved tissues.

Saving Myrtle
Myrtaceae or the myrtle family comprises a large number of flowering plant species that are known for their strong aroma. These plants are believed to have originated in Australia and now they are found in other parts of the world as well. Plants like eucalyptus, rose apple, clove, and guava, also belong to the Myrtaceae family.

Unfortunately, Myrtle rust has affected over 380 plant species in Australia and New Zealand, 13 of which are already believed to have gone extinct, while another 43 are at high risk. Moreover, the researchers suggest that new strains of this fungi are also emerging in South America.

Plants are the direct target of the fungi but the threat is not just limited to them. The pandemic could also indirectly affect the population of many microbes, insects, and animals that depend on the Myrtaceae family for their different needs.

How cryopreserving plants can solve this problem
Cryopreservation is already used to store animal/human s***m, eggs, and embryos, as well as crop species such as bananas, sweet potatoes, and other root crops that are generally not grown using seeds, or that don’t survive seed banking.

However, each plant species has different requirements (light, humidity, temperature, medium).

Therefore existing cryopreservation methods can’t be used to save many plants that are on the brink of extinction.

“Unfortunately for plants, it is not a ‘one size fits all’ method. Each species can often need its own method and media recipe — so this can take a year or more to figure out even before we can start to cryopreserve the material,” Dr. Alice Hayward, one of the researchers at UQ’s Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, told ZME Science.

To overcome this problem, the researchers designed a carefully curated method. They came up with a cryopreservation technique that works using plant tissue culture, allowing them to grow a whole plant using small pieces of plant tissues such as buds, leaves, or stems on a sterile nutrient media.

Once the tissue culture is ready, they place it in special growth rooms set to the perfect light and temperature conditions.

Hayward explained, “Once we can grow our plant species in culture, we can take cells or buds from the little plants and treat them with dehydrating and vitrifying solutions that act to remove water from the cells and also help turn the remaining water into a ‘glassy’ state.”

This is to stop the water from forming ice, which destroys the cells as it expands to form shards. However, removing water from cells and applying these solutions can also kill them. Therefore the researchers need to find a balance in this process so that they can protect the cells from ice damage, and also not kill them in the process.

New lab-on-a-chip test device can identify viruses within three minutes
It’s fast, low-cost and uses techniques previously reserved for lab-based PCR tests.
Engineers at the University of Bath have created a virus diagnosis device that gives lab-quality results in just three minutes. The LoCKAmp, as they called it, uses lab-on-chip technology and has been proven to provide fast and low-cost detection of Covid-19 from nasal swabs. It could be adapted to detect other pathogens such as bacteria.
The device functions by rapidly releasing and enhancing genetic material from a nasal swab specimen through a chemical reaction, ultimately generating a result that can be accessed via a smartphone app. Unlike lateral flow assay tests, the LoCKAmp uses the same genetic-based testing techniques previously reserved for lab-based PCR tests.

As well as being accurate, the test is also remarkably fast, delivering results within three minutes — the fastest Covid-19 test reported to date, as the researchers describe it. They created a prototype using off-the-shelf components and factory-manufactured printed circuit boards and argue it could be soon made on a mass scale and at low cost.

They are already in conversation with academic and commercial partners to bring LoCKAmp into production. The device is projected to cost about $60 when it reaches mass production, while the test cartridges, now made for $3, could cost less than $0.60. The device and how it works is detailed in a paper in the journal Lab on a Chip.

“This is an amazing display of the possibilities of lab-on-a-chip technology, and given the low cost and adaptability of the technology to detect a range of conditions, a potentially highly valuable and unique tool for a range of healthcare settings,” Despina Moschou, the study lead researcher at Bath University, said in a news release.

How LoCKAmp works
The LoCKAmp system utilizes a technique called RT-LAMP (reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification) to amplify targeted RNA sequences, enabling rapid and precise identification of the specific virus of interest. The researchers argue that LAMP detection surpasses PCR testing in terms of sensitivity, speed, and specificity.

Processing occurs at a constant temperature of 65 degrees Celsius, eliminating the need for the multiple thermal cycles essential in a PCR testing. This enables the device to be designed with a portable size and reduced power consumption. Additionally, the design offers the advantage of not requiring any pre-processing of nasal swab samples.

After the nasal swab sample is introduced in the device, LoCKAmp pumps the liquid through small transparent ‘microfluidic’ channels integrated into the circuit board, positioned above copper heaters. These heat the sample and release the RNA genetic material from the virus. This is then heated again and treated with RT-LAMP chemicals.

The device fluoresces under light if the viral RNA is present in the amplified sample, meaning the test is positive. The researchers tested it with Covid-19 patient swabs collected by Bath’s Royal United Hospital Trusts during the pandemic. Development of LoCKAmp continued since then, considering the significant potential of the device.

As well as testing it with nasal swap samples, the researchers believe the device could be used to do community-level monitoring and detection of viruses like Covid-19 by testing wastewater. This would allow us to quickly detect the spread of viruses and would give a community-wide view, rather than relying on individuals to regularly do a test.

“With LoCKAmp technology providing both low cost and real time genetic target identification and quantification, we’re getting ever closer to real time pathogen tracking. This opens exciting opportunities enabling the establishment of early warning systems,” Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern, study author, said in a press release.

Scientists make new antibiotics from Neanderthal DNA
It's like Jurassic Park, only with antibiotics.
In the neverending battle against bacterial infections, scientists have found an unlikely ally: the long-extinct Neanderthals. Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have tapped into the archaic genetic code of our ancient relatives, unearthing a potential pharmaceutical goldmine—a new kind of antibiotic built from Neanderthal DNA.

Evolving resistance
Since the advent of penicillin, antibiotics have been the cornerstone of our defense against bacterial diseases. However, bacteria are cunning adversaries, evolving resistance to our drugs and thus escalating a biological arms race. It’s a stark reality underscored by the CDC’s warning of a looming post-antibiotic era, propelled by antibiotic misuse.

According to a systematic analysis published in 2022, in 2019 alone, 1.3 million deaths were estimated to be directly attributable to antimicrobial resistance, the majority in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

A report from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that more than half of the bacteria responsible for bloodstream infections in hospitals—specifically, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter species—are now resistant to multiple drugs. These infections are particularly severe and typically require treatment with the most powerful antibiotics available, known as carbapenems. Alarmingly, the study found that 8% of the bloodstream infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae are not responding even to these potent drugs.

Even common bacterial infections that traditionally have been routinely treated with antibiotics are showing concerning levels of resistance. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacteria responsible for the widely known sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea, has developed resistance to ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic commonly prescribed in oral form, in over 60% of cases. Furthermore, E. coli, typically the culprit behind urinary tract infections, has also grown alarmingly defiant.

More than 20% of E. coli cases show resistance not just to the primary antibiotics (ampicillin and co-trimoxazole) but also to the secondary line of defense, fluoroquinolones, which are usually reserved for more difficult cases.