That’s not my cup of tea

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Genetics: That’s not my cup of tea; Evolution: How spiders make all-weather ‘superglue’

This press release contains:

Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Genetics: That’s not my cup of tea
Evolution: How spiders make all-weather ‘superglue’

• Geographical listing of authors

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[1] Genetics: That’s not my cup of tea

A study that used DNA barcoding to genetically identify the ingredients of 146 tea products suggests that about one third of herbal teas may contain plants or plant parts not listed on the label. The findings, which are reported online in Scientific Reports, highlight the potential of DNA barcoding for providing more accurate ingredient labels to consumers, thereby improving the safety of food and botanical products.
In its strictest definition, tea refers to infusions prepared from the leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, but infusions prepared using other plants or plant parts are also commonly referred to as tea. Accurate labelling of commercial tea products is important for consumers, marketers and regulators because it is difficult to identify particular plant ingredients to different species based on visual appearance alone.
Mark Stoeckle and colleagues describe the use of DNA barcoding to identify the ingredients of 146 tea products. This technique involves using a short genetic marker in an organism's DNA to identify it as belonging to a particular species. 90% of the teas contained one or both of the standard plant barcodes rbcL and matK (96% of Camellia sinensis teas and 84% of herbal teas). The authors also found that 35% of herbal teas contained one or more barcode that indicated an ingredient not listed on the label. This could have been an inadvertent introduction, during harvesting or in the factory, or involve the adding or substitution of ingredients — to improve the taste or appearance or for economic reasons, perhaps.
CONTACT
Mark Stoeckle (The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 646 385 3395; E-mail: [email protected]

Please link to the freely available scientific paper in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends):
www.nature.com/srep/2011/110721/srep00042/full/srep00042

[2] Evolution: How spiders make all-weather ‘superglue’

The prey-capture glues produced by orb-weaving spiders and their evolutionary descendents, cobweb-weaving spiders, respond differently to humidity because of different ‘tackifiers’ used in the two types of glue. These findings, published in Scientific Reports, could help future efforts to make smart materials that are resistant or sensitive to certain stimuli.
Orb-weaving spiders and cobweb-weaving spiders capture prey using adhesive silk threads coated in glue but although the two types of glue are produced in homologous glands, they differ greatly. Viscid glue, produced by orb-weaving spiders, is adapted for capturing flying insects and is humidity-sensitive, its adhesion maximized at intermediate humidity. The gumfoot glue produced by cobweb-weaving spiders is adapted for catching walking insects and is mainly resistant to humidity, maintaining its stickiness at extreme humidity levels.
Ali Dhinojwala and colleagues examined individual droplets of glue produced by the two spider lineages. Despite their close evolutionary homology, the two bio-adhesives proved to be remarkably different, particularly with respect to their interactions with water. Cobweb weavers use a cocktail of short peptides and long adhesive polymers (probably glycoproteins), which means the glue is resistant to variations in humidity. Viscid glue, on the other hand, is highly responsive to water thanks to the hygroscopic salts it contains, and the glue is stickiest at intermediate humidity.
CONTACT
Ali Dhinojwala (University of Akron, OH, USA)
Tel: +1 330 972 6246; E-mail: [email protected]

Please link to the freely available scientific paper in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends):
www.nature.com/srep/2011/110721/srep00041/full/srep00041

GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS…

The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the papers numbered in this release. For example, London: 4 - this means that on paper number four, there will be at least one author affiliated to an institute or company in London. The listing may be for an author's main affiliation, or for a place where they are working temporarily. Please see the PDF of the paper for full details.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Massachusetts
Medford: 1
New York
Bronx: 1
New York: 1
Ohio
Akron: 2

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Published: 21 Jul 2011

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