Noteworthy — Amid the turmoil and uncertainty of our times, one fact is undeniable: microbes continue to evolve. Read more →
Cultivating the Ancestors… (2|4)
by Christoph — Based on their knowledge of the morphology of P. syntrophicum MK-D1 from electron microscopy and their knowledge of its physiology from growth assays and genome analysis, Imachi, Nobu et al. (2020) propose a hypothetical model, the E3 model, of how the first evolutionary steps towards eukaryogenesis might have occurred in an ancestral archaeon living ~2 billion years ago. Read more →
Anticipating Seasons
Noteworthy — While plants and animals can measure differences in the length of days and nights bacteria, with their short life spans, would not be expected to do so. Read more →
Cultivating the Ancestors… (1|4)
by Christoph — ...is a metaphysical affair across all human cultures. For experimental biologists, it is the more prosaic, physical task of cultivating extant prokaryotic relatives of the ancestors of the eukaryotes in the lab. Or the 'most likely' ancestors of the eukaryotes, to be cautious when leaping back ~2 billion years in time. Now, meet the archaeon Promethearchaeum syntrophicum MK-D1, and its syntrophic companions. Read more →
Novel Fungus-Cyanobacterium Symbiosis
Noteworthy — Fungi are wonderfully diverse and versatile microorganisms. And it is perhaps this versatility that makes them so adept at forming symbiotic relationships with other organisms. Mycorrhizae or endophytic fungi, for example, inhabit plant tissues where they reside within or between plant cells. Read more →
Our Built Environment Microbiomes
by Mechas — There is no doubt that our understanding of microbiomes – those microbial communities in practically any environment – has increased in recent years. Research now covers almost any conceivable niches, from cow rumen or the human gut, to numerous human-made ecosystems. Read more →
Making a Living in the Nucleus
Noteworthy — When it comes to intracellular pathogens, we usually think of those that remain inside a membrane-enclosed vacuole and those that escape into the cytoplasm. Much rarer are cases of parasite that make a living inside the nucleus. Read more →
Lost & Found #5
by Christoph — When you leave 𝕏, it means that among the “bookmarks” you take with you, you will also come across some that contain images or videos that are mainly nice to look at and even entertaining. As in 'Lost & Found #4', two such are included today in 'Lost & Found #5'. Read more →
A Fungus that Reduces Methane Emissions
Noteworthy — We face unprecedented rising global temperatures, a crisis driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels. But other sectors, like the livestock industry, also contribute by producing large amounts of greenhouse gases. Read more →
Wait, What? extracurricular DNA (eDNA)
by Christoph — Among biologists, DNA is a household term, the acronym for desoxyribonucleic acid, which hardly anyone pronounces in full. But can you find your way around the zoo of prefixes that are in use and in most cases are not separated from 'DNA' by a hyphen, as for example in Z-DNA? cccDNA, rcDNA (ocDNA), mtDNA, ecDNA, cDNA, bDNA, gDNA (chrDNA), kDNA, xDNA, rDNA, tDNA, ssDNA,… and eDNA. Read more →