All Ecology & Evolution articles
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NewsDual feeding strategy helps Mediterranean coral thrive in rising sea temperatures
An exceptional “dual feeding” strategy underlies a Mediterranean coral’s resilience to rising sea temperatures, according to a study. The stony coral Oculina patagonica is known to feed itself with or without algae.
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NewsStinkbug leg organ contains symbiotic fungi to shield eggs from parasitic wasps
What looked like a hearing organ on a tiny stinkbug’s leg turned out to be something far stranger: a fungal nursery that mother bugs use to coat their newly laid eggs in protective symbiotic hyphae, shielding their offspring from parasitic wasps.
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NewsSped-up evolution may help bacteria take hold in gut microbiome
A genetic mechanism inserts mutations into key DNA hotspots that enable bacteria to adapt to new environments, a new study finds.
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NewsClimate change may increase the spread of neurotoxin in the oceans
Climate-driven oxygen loss in the Black Sea thousands of years ago triggered the expansion of microorganisms capable of producing the potent neurotoxin methylmercury. That is shown in a new study which suggests that similar processes could occur in today’s warming oceans.
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NewsEarth’s oxygen boom: a fresh perspective for a billion-year-old problem
A new study examines nickel and urea in early microbial habitats, showing how ancient cyanobacteria adapted to their chemical surroundings. By recreating Archean conditions in the lab, researchers uncovered clues about the delicate balances that shaped early cyanobacterial life.
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NewsResearchers uncover hidden plant–microbe strategy that boosts crop growth under nutrient stress
Scientists discovered that when soil microbes compete with each other in the rhizosphere, they release a well-known compound called glutathione. This compound enhances plant growth under sulphur-deficient conditions.
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NewsRare bacterium ‘plays dead’ to evade detection in NASA clean rooms
A rare novel bacterium found in an unexpected environment may be evading detection by “playing dead”. Discovered in NASA spacecraft assembly clean rooms, Tersicoccus phoenicis could have major implications for planetary protection and clean room sterilization practices.
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News1,000-year-old gut microbiome revealed for young man who lived in pre-Hispanic Mexico
Analysis of preserved feces and intestinal tissue has revealed specific types of bacteria that were present in the microbiome of a young adult man who lived in Mexico about 1,000 years ago, prior to Spanish colonization.
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NewsDeadwood-decomposing fungi feed germinating orchids
Deadwood-decomposing fungi feed germinating orchids, providing the carbon their tiny seeds don’t have. The finding not only closes a gap in our understanding of wild orchid ecology but also uncovers an important carbon flux in the ecosystem.
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NewsExperimental mapping of bacterial growth reveals evolutionary and ecological patterns
A research team has proposed a new approach to reveal ecological niches (positions within ecosystems) and evolutionary relationships in nature through large-scale growth analysis of bacteria in strictly regulated laboratory settings.
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NewsResearchers wake up microbes trapped in permafrost for thousands of years
In a new study, a team of geologists and biologists resurrected ancient microbes that had been trapped in ice—in some cases for around 40,000 years.
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NewsScientists develop rapid and scalable platform for in planta directed evolution
Researchers have developed a new system that enables rapid and scalable directed evolution of diverse genes directly in plant cells. To address the challenge of slow cell division rate in plants, the researchers harnessed geminiviruses.
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NewsSome plants can make their own fertilizer - scientists say they learned it more than once
In a new study, scientists show that chemical receptors that plants use to recognize nitrogen-fixing bacteria have developed the same function independently on at least three separate occasions through a process called convergent evolution.
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NewsFungi set the stage for life on land hundreds of millions of years earlier than thought
New research indicates the diversification of fungi hundreds of millions of years before the emergence of land plants. It suggests a common ancestor of living fungi dating to roughly 1.4–0.9 billion years ago.
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NewsCell death in microalgae resembles that in humans
For the first time, researchers have observed the same type of programmed cell death in microalgae as in humans. The discovery shows that this central biological process is older than previously thought.
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NewsScientists reveal functional RNA splitting mechanism behind origin of Type V CRISPR systems
Researchers have uncovered the molecular innovation that led to the origin of Type V CRISPR-Cas immune systems. Their findings show that the functional splitting of transposon-derived RNAs was the critical innovation driving the emergence of Type V CRISPR-Cas immunity.
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NewsGenetic culprits IDed in capture of 100 years of antibiotic resistance evolution
The genetic culprits responsible for the spread of multidrug resistance (MDR) in bacteria have been identified by new research mapping 100 years of bacterial evolution.
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NewsHot springs in Japan give insight into ancient microbial life on Earth
Iron-oxidising bacteria in the iron-rich hot springs suggest early microbes used iron and trace oxygen, not sunlight, as their primary energy source during the planet’s shift from a low-oxygen to a high-oxygen atmosphere about 2.3 billion years ago.
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NewsKey to the riddle of sleep may be linked to bacteria
New research suggests a new paradigm in understanding sleep, demonstrating that a substance in the mesh-like walls of bacteria, known as peptidoglycan, is naturally present in the brains of mice and closely aligned with the sleep cycle.
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NewsMagic mushrooms invent active compound twice
A study shows that fungi have developed the ability to produce psilocybin at least twice independently of each other. While Psilocybe species use a known enzyme toolkit for this purpose, fiber cap mushrooms employ a different biochemical arsenal – and yet arrive at the same molecule.