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
Scientists want to 3D print houses on Mars with the help of yeast
Researchers have developed a recipe that could one day be used to 3D print houses on Mars. combining Martian rocks with gelatin and yeast. Once dried and hardened, this living building material is as strong as low-grade concrete and can be broken down, recycled, and brewed again for new construction.
Read story
NewsProfessor Jack Gilbert leaves a lasting legacy of collaboration and global engagement at AMI
As Professor Jack Gilbert steps down as President of Applied Microbiology International, he leaves a legacy of collaboration, generosity and an unwavering commitment to strengthening our global community.
NewsPairing biofertilizers with biochar turns farm and city waste into climate-smart soil solutions
A new review makes the case that organic waste from farms, cities and industries could become a resource for healthier soil and more resilient farming — if two waste-derived soil treatments, microbial biofertilizers and biochar, are used together rather than separately.
NewsCo-digestion of waste and wastewater from biomanufacturing for energy recovery
Researchers have developed the Anaerobic Baffled Continuous Stirring (ABCS) reactor, a device capable of simultaneously treating solid waste and wastewater from biomanufacturing processes while recovering methane for energy self-sufficiency.
More Healthy Land
News
Plant health: New joint factsheet outlines synergy between Horizon Europe projects FORSAID, CERBERUS and STELLA
One of the biggest threats to Europe’s forests and farms is the spread of biotic stressors, capable of reversing decades of cultivation and conservation. As part of its efforts to address this challenge, the EU has mobilised three sister projects - FORSAID, CERBERUS and STELLA.
NewsBiochar can act as an ‘interface engineer’ to reshape the hidden world around plant roots
A new review shows how biochar simultaneously modifies soil structure, chemistry and microbial communities in the rhizosphere, offering a framework for more precise and sustainable agricultural use.
NewsFrom soil to outer space: our interview with JAM Systems Microbiology Lead Editor Janet Jansson
We get to know Janet Jansson, who has been appointed as new Lead Editor in Systems Microbiology at the Journal of Applied Microbiology.
OpinionHow Puerto Rico’s first microbiome research center can reshape global science collaboration
AMI’s Global Ambassador for the Americas, Dr. Filipa Godoy-Vitorino, Chair of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Puerto Rico, reveals why she is spearheading the planned Puerto Rico Center for Microbiome Sciences (PR-CMS)—the first of its kind in the region.
NewsKazakh researchers ID antiviral and anti-inflammatory compounds in native medicinal plants
Researchers have identified biologically active compounds with antiviral, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory effects in several plant species native to Kazakhstan, providing new chemical and experimental data on medicinal flora from Central Asia.
NewsBlueberry’s waxy shield reveals clues to gray mold resistance
Botrytis cinerea is a broad-host-range necrotrophic fungus that causes gray mold in more than 1,000 plant species. In blueberry, it can damage flowers in the field and later emerge as fruit rot after harvest, reducing shelf life, shipment quality and market value. The disease is especially challenging because latent infections ...
NewsWhat happens when a shoreline scavenger consumes microplastics?
Researchers report on what happens when wharf roaches, a common shoreline scavenger, eat expanded polystyrene (EPS). Analysis of the wharf roach gut microbiome showed little change, but several rare microbes were found only in the EPS-fed specimens.
NewsResearchers test far-ultraviolet light to prevent bird flu in poultry
Researchers are preparing to test a new potential line of defense against highly pathogenic avian influenza, HPAI in poultry farming. They will use a form of ultraviolet light called far-UVC, to see if it can kill HPAI, without harming birds on poultry farms.
NewsMicroplastics may act as pollutant shuttles, carrying chemicals, pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes
A new review reveals how microplastics transport multiple pollutants across ecosystems and proposes a framework for identifying when these vector effects become serious ecological threats.
NewsInternational award supports research into fern-microbe symbiosis
Dr Sophie de Vries will combine evolutionary genomics with experiments that pair ferns and different microbes, to investigate how plants fight off “foes” (diseases) at the same time as supporting their beneficial “friendships” (bacterial partners).
NewsbZIP transcription factor AflHapX coordinates iron homeostasis and aflatoxin biosynthesis in Aspergillus flavus
Researchers have identified the bZIP transcription factor AflHapX in Aspergillus flavus by searching its genome with the HapX protein sequence from Aspergillus fumigatus. They discovered that AflHapX is critical for A. flavus’s adaptive response to both iron excess and iron starvation.
NewsIndy gene reduction linked to healthier gut microbiota and longer lifespan in fruit flies
Scientists investigating aging have shown that Indy reduction is associated with lower bacterial load and higher bacterial diversity in aging Indy flies compared to controls.
NewsSulfur-reducing mechanism of bacterial selenoprotein discovered
A newly discovered multiheme enzyme in Geobacter sulfurreducens contains selenocysteine, which is encoded by a recoded UGA stop codon in the bacterial genome. This enzyme uses a unique selenium–sulfur–heme catalytic center to reduce polysulfides during elemental sulfur respiration.
CareersTrusting in science: Vito Latorre reports back on Parliamentary Links Day
University of East Anglia PhD student Vito Latorre shares his experiences of representing Applied Microbiology International at the Parliamentary Links Day in Westminster earlier this summer.
NewsInvasive mosquito species detected in east London
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is undertaking enhanced surveillance and trapping activities following the detection of invasive Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and larvae at nearby residential properties in east London.
NewsUnderground methane leaks may cultivate microbes that help consume them
Researchers have identified where naturally occurring soil microbes consume methane released from underground natural gas leaks. Methane-consuming microbes were most active in a narrow zone near the surface where methane rising from below meets oxygen entering from the atmosphere.
NewsAn enzyme with potential: New type of plastic-degrading enzyme discovered in bacteria
Researchers have identified a new enzyme that can not only degrade certain polyesters and bioplastics, but also might provide bacteria with resistance to antibiotics. The discovery raises hopes that microorganisms can adapt to plastic degradation more rapidly than previously thought.
NewsWild tomatillos coat fruits with sticky chemical arsenal, study finds
For decades, research on plant chemical defenses has focused on glandular trichomes—the tiny hair‑like structures on leaves and stems that produce and secrete protective compounds. Acyl sugars, a class of specialized metabolites widespread in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), are known to deter insects and fungal pathogens when produced in leaf ...
NewsThe SETI Institute and ETH Zurich join forces to search for the origin of life
ETH Zurich and the SETI Institute have announced a strategic scientific partnership investigating the origins of life on planet Earth.