All Ecology & Evolution articles – Page 5
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NewsFirst known lichen in the fossil record helped structure terrestrial ecosystems
A group of researchers has confirmed the identity of the first lichens to inhabit Earth, Spongiophyton, around 410 million years ago, in great detail for the first time. The study confirms that the symbiosis between fungi and algae that dissolves rocks helped form the first soils.
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NewsStudy sheds new light on what drives evolution of gut microbiomes
A study of wild African herbivores offers new insight into how environmental conditions – not just diet and anatomy – can influence the evolution of gut microbes that play a critical role in animal health and well-being.
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NewsAncient DNA pushes back record of treponemal disease-causing bacteria by 3,000 years
Scientists have recovered a genome of Treponema pallidum from 5,500-year-old human remains in Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia. The research expands knowledge about the history of this infectious disease and its occurrence in human populations.
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NewsResurrected ancient enzyme offers new window into early Earth and the search for life beyond it
By resurrecting a 3.2-billion-year-old enzyme and studying it inside living microbes, researchers have created a new way to improve our understanding of the origins of life on Earth. The study uses synthetic biology to reverse-engineer modern enzymes and rebuild their possible ancestors.
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NewsEndogenous retroviruses promote early human zygotic development
New findings offer insight into why some embryos fail to develop past zygotic genome activation (ZGA), pointing to an unexpected root of human infertility.
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NewsEvidence of ‘lightning-fast’ evolution found after dino-killing asteroid impact
The asteroid that struck the Earth 66 million years ago devastated life across the planet, wiping out the dinosaurs and other organisms. But new research shows new species of plankton appeared fewer than 2,000 years after the world-altering event.
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NewsPaper sheds light on human impact of first known ancient pandemic
A new paper examines the Plague of Justinian and its consequences for ancient Jordan. Focusing on the first-known outbreak of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean world, it adds to the historical record on what caused the devastating outbreak that killed millions within the Byzantine Empire.
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NewsDeadly to amphibians, a fungal strain emerged in Brazil and spread around the world
The fungal infection Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is responsible for the decline of toad and frog populations across the globe. A new study has pinpointed the origin of the fungal strain.
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NewsPlant discovery could lead to new ways of producing medicines
Scientists studying a plant called Flueggea suffruticosa, which produces a particularly powerful alkaloid known as securinine, investigated how this chemical is made - and discovered that the process is driven by a gene that looks more like it comes from bacteria than from a plant.
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NewsJeremy Horowitz selected for The Oceanography Society Early Career Award
The Oceanography Society (TOS) has selected Dr. Jeremy Horowitz as a recipient of the TOS Early Career Award, recognizing his outstanding early-career research contributions, impact, and promise for continued achievement in oceanography, along with his strong record of mentorship, outreach, and collaborative science.
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NewsScientists observe infections by cancer-causing retroviruses in koalas as they occur
Scientists analysed the ongoing colonization by two retroviruses of the germline of koalas and resulting deaths from cancer in multi-generational pedigrees of over 100 koalas in US and European zoos. They calculated genetic risk scores (GRS) that can help guide koala breeding programs.
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NewsRare microbial wrinkle structures - signs of ancient life - turn up in an unexpected place
Deep water sediment layers in the Dadès Valley in the Central High Atlas Mountains of Morocco have revealed rare microbial wrinkle structures formed far from sunlight.
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NewsFirst extensive study into marsupial gut microbiomes reveals new microbial species and antimicrobial resistance
New research provides the first metagenomic data for 13 marsupial species , including the red kangaroo and the common brushtail possum. They revealed that host family, animal location, and diet all contributed towards variance between different microbiomes.
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NewsNew study reveals evolutionary and domestication history of button mushroom
A large-scale population genomic study has shed new light on the evolutionary and domestication history of the button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), one of the most widely cultivated edible fungi in the world.
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NewsThe secret room a giant virus creates inside its host amoeba
Researchers examined Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus-infected amoeba cells using a combination of sequencing methods, including Ribosome profiling to estimate the frequency of translation pausing and tRNA sequencing to determine tRNA composition.
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NewsUshikuvirus: A newly discovered giant virus may offer clues to the origin of life
Researchers have reported the discovery of a giant DNA virus that infects amoeba. Named ushikuvirus after Lake Ushiku in the Ibaraki Prefecture of Japan, where it was isolated. This discovery offers further support for the nuclear virus origin hypothesis.
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NewsCooperation: A costly affair in bacterial social behaviour?
A new study reveals that population bottlenecks can fundamentally reshape how cooperation evolves and persists in complex microbial societies. Researchers explored how repeated bottlenecks affect cooperative traits of Myxococcus xanthus, a model social bacterium.
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NewsNew study uncovers how rice viruses manipulate plant defenses to protect insect vectors
Rather than passively “hitchhiking” within insect vectors, rice viruses actively manipulate plant defense pathways to protect their insect carriers.
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NewsStudy identifies a molecular switch that controls transitions between single-celled and multicellular forms
How did multicellular life evolve from single cells? Researchers have identified genes in marine yeast that may help answer this fundamental question.
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NewsHow the parasite that ‘gave up sex’ found more hosts – and why its victory won’t last
A study has revealed a genetic shortcut that may help Giardia duodenalis and many other parasites jump to new hosts at the cost of long-term survival. The findings may also help explain how parasites evolve drug resistance.