All symbiosis articles
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News
Discovery of bacterial proteins that induce asexual reproduction in insects
From microbes in the human gut to symbiotic algae in coral reefs, research in recent decades has increasingly revealed the pivotal roles that microorganisms (or microbial species) play in shaping the biology of host organisms and of broader ecosystems. For example, some endosymbionts—microbes that live within the cells of a ...
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News
The nitroplast revealed: a nitrogen-fixing organelle in a marine alga
A nitrogen-fixing bacterial endosymbiont of marine algae is evolving into a nitrogen-fixing organelle, or nitroplast, thereby expanding a function that was thought to be exclusively carried out by prokaryotic cells to eukaryotes.
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News
Inside look at how plants and mycorrhizal fungi cooperate
A new view into a symbiosis could offer benefits to address climate change: pulling atmospheric carbon into soil and boosting biofuel feedstocks with less fertilizer.
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News
New study finds possibility of nitrogen-fixing organelles
Scientists who discovered nitrogen-fixing symbiotic organisms exhibiting behaviors similar to organelles suggest these symbiotic organisms – UCYN-A, a species of cyanobacteria – may be evolving organelle-like characteristics.
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Opinion
Antimicrobial chemotherapy - which direction now?
The answer to antimicrobial resistance might not be the continual discovery of new antibiotics - but judicious use of the antibiotics and insights into antibiotic producing organisms we have already discovered.
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News
Researchers investigate how freshwater diatoms stay in the light
Scientists sampled the ice-covered (in 2019) and ice-free (in 2020) winter waters of Lake Erie to learn how diatoms are responding to changing environmental conditions.
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News
Marine algae implants could boost crop yields
Scientists have discovered the gene that enables marine algae to make a unique type of chlorophyll. They successfully implanted this gene in a land plant, paving the way for better crop yields on less land. Source: Robert Jinkerson/Tingting Xiang/UCR Fluorescence image of coral Acropora juvenile polyps hosting the ...
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News
Researchers uncover a key link in legume plant-bacteria symbiosis
Researchers have identified four essential phosphorylation sites that act as the catalyst for the symbiotic relationship between legume plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
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News
Researchers probe ancient partnership between moss and fungi - and endobacteria
Researchers tracking the subtle but distinct ways a moss interacted with its fungal neighbors found that these interactions came to depend on a unique addition to the cast — endobacteria within the fungi.
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News
Chemical signals spur soil bacteria to slam on the brakes
Scientists have lifted the lid on the miniature world of soil microbes, revealing how they sense and move in response to a variety of chemical and nutrient signals at various stages of symbiosis with legume plants.
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News
Studying defensive bacteria in squid and newts may help human gut health
Elizabeth Heath-Heckman has received a $1.9 million grant to support her research studying the bacteria animals like squid and newts use to protect themselves.
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News
Giant bacterium uses unique processes to power itself
Scientists have for the first time described the full genome of one species of the Epulopiscium family of giant bacteria, which they’ve named Epulopiscium viviparus.
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News
Heat tolerant coral may trade fast growth for resilience
Rresearchers have found that there is a tradeoff for corals dominated by thermally sensitive algae - they have higher growth, but only in cooler water.
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News
Spaceflight could alter behaviour of human microbiome, bobtail squid study suggests
Microgravity changes how effectively symbiotic bacteria colonise the light organ of the bobtail squid, according to a new study which has implications for how the human microbiome may respond to spaceflight. Source: Joseph Emhof Bobtail squid just after hatching The research by a University of Florida team, ...
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News
Some hosts have an ‘evolutionary addiction’ to their microbiome
Microbes might not actually be helping their hosts; instead, microbe-free hosts might malfunction because they have evolved an addiction to their microbes, says one evolutionary ecologist.
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News
Algae pass on nutrients to coral host by degrading own cell wall
Researchers have identified a new pathway by which sugar is released by symbiotic algae, involving the largely overlooked cell wall.
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News
Beewolves protect symbiont microbes from toxic gas release
The symbiosis of these digger wasps with their bacterial helpers involves protecting the symbionts from toxic nitric oxide released by beewolf eggs to kill pathogens, research shows.
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News
Study unveils gene expression of photosynthetic symbiont in marine diatom
A new study explores the genetic expression of a photosynthetic symbiont that lives inside an abundant marine organism.
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News
Viruses hidden in coral symbiont’s genetic material pose threat to reefs
Microscopic algae that corals need for survival harbour a common and possibly disease-causing virus in their genetic material, an international study has found.
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News
Insects rely on bacteria for essential nutrients
Insects heavily rely on bacteria for essential nutrients that are lacking in their diet. This has allowed insects to access a wide variety of food, leading to remarkable species diversification in some cases.