by Mechas — Agriculture has triggered enormous changes in human society. But it is not unique to humans. Read more →
Cultivating the Ancestors (4|4)
by Christoph — Having one or two 'Asgard' archaea under the microscope – after having cultivated them with great effort and even more patience – and looking them in the face is exciting, but a bit unsatisfying if they are cousins. Are they mavericks or rather typical for "Lokis"? Here are the portraits of two more distant relatives, both also cousins: Margulisarchaeum peptidophila HC1 and Flexarchaeum multiprotrusionis SC1. Read more →
Cultivating the Ancestors (3|4)
by Christoph — There was joy, even excitement among archaeologists when the first images of Promethearchaeum syntrophicum MK‑D1 made the rounds. This sense of joy deepend still when images of its cousin Lokiarchaeon ossiferum Loki-B35 were added a little later. The ancestors suddenly got their own faces, literally, and were no longer only vaguely recognizable from genome sequences! 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 →
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 →
Protections and Interactions in the Beewolf Nursery
by Tobias Engl — Beewolves, their larvae, and their Streptomyces symbionts not only use multiple, largely different classes of chemical compounds to protect themselves against detrimental microbial competitors. To be most effective, these compounds are produced and deployed in a precisely timed sequence. Beewolves are solitary digger wasps that hunt on bees, paralyze them and provision single eggs with... Read more →
An Unusual Symbiosome
Noteworthy — This paper describes the highly evolved interactions between anaerobic protists and their syntrophic sulfate-reducing symbionts. Remarkably, the symbionts reside in an elaborate symbiosomal membrane network that places them adjacent to both the host's hydrogenosome and the extracellular milieu, where they can access sulfate. The physical properties of the symbiosome ensures the efficiency of this syntrophy. Read more →
Endophytic Streptomyces & Plant Growth
by Roberto — Because of the deleterious effects on soil due to the prolonged use and overuse of synthetic fertilizers, the quest for bacteria able to promote plant growth is an ongoing pursuit. Yet, these searches are usually focused on members of a few genera, prime amongst these Bacillus and Pseudomonas. What about the Streptomyces? Read more →
Fungus Helps Carnivorous Plant Digest Prey
by Kevin Blake — It is well-established that microorganisms help vertebrates digest food, such as the bacteria in our gut breaking down complex carbohydrates. But do carnivorous plants engage in similar digestive collaborations? Read more →