Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall—how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by an ERC project led by microbiologist Dagmar ...
Ecology
Apr 17, 2024
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69
A component of the human intestinal flora that has been little studied to date is the focus of a new study from Germany. Plasmids are small extrachromosomal genetic elements that frequently occur in bacterial cells and can ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 16, 2024
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104
One of the most abundant and deadliest organisms on Earth is a virus called a bacteriophage (phage). These predators have lethal precision against their targets—not humans, but bacteria. Different phages have evolved to ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 8, 2024
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1
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have developed an innovative methodology for measuring the electrical conductivity of microbial communities. This methodology holds promise for the development of batteries and electrochemical ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 29, 2024
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2
Microbial communities are highly diverse, yet the mechanisms underlying microbial community assembly are not well understood. In 1967, Daniel Janzen hypothesized that low climatic variability along elevational gradients results ...
Ecology
Jan 3, 2024
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1
Broad host range (BHR) synthetic biology aims to capitalize on a wide range of microbial phenotypes to expand biodesign applications not confined to traditional model organisms. Despite the ever-expanding genetic toolkit, ...
Biotechnology
Dec 11, 2023
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20
Ecological researchers study the relationships among different organisms and between organisms and their surroundings. It is important to understand how individual features in a community, like microbes or types of chemicals, ...
Ecology
Jul 31, 2023
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1
Ancient pathogens that escape from melting permafrost have real potential to damage microbial communities and might potentially threaten human health, according to a new study by Giovanni Strona of the European Commission ...
Ecology
Jul 27, 2023
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122
Metagenomic data from Tara Oceans on marine plankton has enabled the discovery of a major group of DNA viruses found abundantly from the equator to the poles: mirusviruses. These viruses play a role in regulating plankton ...
Evolution
Apr 29, 2023
0
81
A new study led by Northern Arizona University offers new evidence that a common framework to sort bacteria into two lifestyles doesn't easily apply to bacteria living in wild soil. The findings, published in The ISME Journal, ...
Ecology
Feb 6, 2023
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