Healthy land
Land has a wide variety of uses: agricultural, residential, industrial, and recreational. Microbes play a key role in the terrestrial ecosystem, providing symbiotic relationships with plants. Human use of land has led to the exhaustion of nutrients in soils, contamination of land, and a reduction in biodiversity. Applying our knowledge of microbes will be essential in restoring the biodiversity of affected ecosystems. Greater research into how microbes impact human life on land could all have a positive impact, by increasing crop production, repurposing areas of land and improving microbial biodiversity in soil, land, and water.
News
Warm temperatures disrupt spider sex-changing bacteria in dwarf-spiders across generations
A new study reveals that exposing dwarf spiders to a brief period of warm temperatures can disrupt a phenomenon where internal bacteria normally force genetic males to develop as females.
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NewsBiochar ‘switches on’ natural oxygen chemistry to suppress soil-borne pathogens and reshape healthier microbial communities
A new study reveals how specially prepared biochar can directly suppress a destructive soil-borne pathogen while helping rebuild a richer and more stable soil bacterial community.
NewsArctic microplastics: A ticking time bomb for climate feedback loops
A new study systematically maps the major transport pathways—atmospheric, oceanic, and local—and details how microplastics infiltrate Arctic food webs and interact with physical and biogeochemical processes that govern regional climate.
NewsBiochar and smarter water management could help make rice safer in polluted soils
A new study suggests that pairing iron and manganese modified biochar with carefully chosen irrigation strategies can reduce cadmium and mercury buildup in rice, offering a practical path toward safer food production in co-contaminated paddy fields.
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News
Under the Lens: Plant microbiomes could cut agriculture’s dependence on chemicals, says Davide Bulgarelli
Understanding the hidden microbial communities that surround plant roots could pave the way for more sustainable farming, according to award-winning plant microbiologist Dr Davide Bulgarelli in conversation with Professor Emmanuel Adukwu.
VideoThe Microbiologist: Under the Lens | Episode 4
The microscopic organisms living around plant roots may hold the key to reducing agriculture’s reliance on chemical fertilisers and other non-renewable inputs, according to plant microbiome researcher Dr Davide Bulgarelli.
NewsGentian receives carbon through mycorrhizal fungi in addition to photosynthesis
Researchers have found that Gentiana squarrosa Ledeb. is partially mycoheterotrophic. The plant not only produces carbon through photosynthesis but also receives carbon through underground fungal networks.
NewsMicrobe-mapping project transforms entire university campus into a “living lab”
An innovative citizen science project is combining large-scale microbe sampling with metagenomics workshops and utilising the power of students to map out the varied microbiomes of the University of Milano-Bicocca’s campus - including those within the students themselves.
NewsAMI teams up with the International Symposium on Biopolymers to launch new themed collection on microbial polymers
The Journal of Applied Microbiology is joining forces with the International Symposium on Biopolymers to launch a new themed collection called ‘Microbial polymers for industrial and environmental applications’. Guest editors Tanja Narancic and Kevin O’Connor reveal why this is such a fascinating area of research.
NewsPlant DNA harbours virus ‘fossils’ that reflect 300 million years of evolution
New research shows that Caulimoviridae viruses have infected an extremely wide range of vascular plant hosts, from lycophytes to flowering plants, revealing the existence of 35 previously undescribed taxonomic clusters in Caulimoviridae.
NewsThe broader a fungus’s diet, the better it kills insects and helps plants
Entomologists have discovered that a single underlying trait—metabolic breadth, or the range of nutrients a fungus can use—links its ability to kill insects, partner with plants and thrive in different ecological roles.
NewsCould ‘Trojan horse’ microbes that exploit symbiotic systems be candidates for new biological pesticides?
Researchers have discovered a new insect pathogen that invades the gut symbiotic organ of stink bugs by mimicking their symbiotic microorganism, and this pathogen ultimately kills the host bugs.
NewsNovel plasmid confers phosphorylation-driven streptomycin resistance in plant pathogen
The genetic basis underlying the unusually high-level streptomycin resistance observed in the field-derived strain TX-0702 of Clavibacter michiganensis has remined unknown until a new study identified a previously uncharacterized plasmid.
NewsMeet EcoBOT: The autonomous lab standardizing plant-microbe research
Berkeley Lab’s new “self-driving” laboratory, EcoBOT, automates complex plant experiments to eliminate human error, solve biology’s replication crisis, and accelerate bioenergy research.
NewsRice-grown chaga reveals genes behind valuable triterpenoids
New study links triterpenoid accumulation in Inonotus obliquus with rising expression of key biosynthetic genes, providing a genetic foundation for future work to improve sustainable production of Chaga-derived compounds.
NewsBreakthrough study could unlock key to more reliable truffle cultivation
A pioneering study has revealed that growing truffles depends not just on soil conditions, but on a complex underground ecosystem that the truffles may help to engineer themselves.
NewsExtreme droughts in the rainforest reduce important feedback between soil and atmosphere
The El Niño drought and heat suppress the capacity of the Amazon rainforest soil to absorb isoprene by a factor of four, while boosting its amount around the forest canopy.
NewsA non-toxic guard against Lyme disease could soon be an everyday purchase
Rather than vaccinating people or pets against Lyme disease, researchers are targeting the “reservoir hosts” — small mammals like squirrels, chipmunks and white-footed mice — that naturally carry the bacterium and pass it to ticks.
NewsNew evolution platform creates tougher yeast for sustainable biomanufacturing
Researchers have now developed a powerful new tool that accelerates microbial evolution. Their study introduces RAMPAGE, a programmable system that continuously generates genetic diversity across the genome of the industrial yeast P. pastoris.
NewsTiny DNA ‘hitchhikers’ may be reshaping life in thawing Arctic soils
A new study in the peatlands of northern Sweden provides one of the clearest pictures yet of how frequently microbes swap, gain and lose genes in nature. The study establishes a new framework for measuring genetic mobility in natural environments.
NewsWidespread saprotrophs identified as the hidden engine of soil carbon decomposition
A nationwide study across China reveals that broad geographic distribution, rather than local diversity alone, determines which soil fungi actively fuel carbon decomposition and shape future carbon dynamics under climate change.
NewsTick-borne diseases reported every month of the year and in every Illinois county
A new analysis of state health department data reveals that more than 6,400 Illinois residents were diagnosed with tickborne diseases from 2004-2022.
NewsRice-crayfish farming strengthens soil nutrient cycling
Using metagenomic sequencing, a study has shown that integrated rice-crayfish systems increase the abundance of functional genes involved in methane oxidation, nitrogen degradation, denitrification, organic phosphorus mineralization, and phosphorus transport compared with rice monoculture.