All symbiosis articles
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NewsWater fern offers safe potential global food insecurity solution - with no cyanotoxins
An international effort to test Azolla found that it does not contain cyanotoxins, potent toxins produced by a type of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, associated with the plant.
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NewsStudy yields evidence of oldest confirmed photosymbiosis in corals
Researchers have demonstrated, using nitrogen isotope analyses, that some extinct corals from the Middle Devonian period were already symbiotic. This represents geochemical evidence of the oldest confirmed photosymbiosis in corals.
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NewsSymbiotic bacterium affects reproduction of biological control insect
Researchers have revealed that the symbiotic bacterium Rickettsia induces strong cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) in the predatory mirid bug, Nesidiocoris tenuis, which preys on agricultural pests such as whiteflies and thrips.
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NewsResearchers create new framework to understand how microbial communities emerge
Virtually all multicellular organisms on Earth live in symbiotic associations with very large and complex microbial communities known as microbiomes. New research has just been published aimed at offering a complete understanding how those relationships form.
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NewsHijacking the command center of the cell: nuclear parasites in deep-sea mussels
Researchers have revealed how a bacterial parasite thrives inside the nuclei of deep-sea mussels, a remarkable feat given that the nucleus is the control center of the cell.
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NewsFungal discovery changes the way we understand Charles Darwin’s most beloved plant – the sundew
A new study has uncovered a symbiotic relationship that has evolved between Darwin’s favourite carnivorous plant and a specific type of fungus which lives inside it and helps it digest its prey.
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NewsTicks’ secret allies: Bacteria’s hidden hand in tick survival
A new study of the relationship between the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, and its Coxiella-like symbiotic bacteria reveals the bacteria help the ticks by providing essential B vitamins and possibly other nutrients like L-proline.
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NewsWarming stops tiny organisms working together
The single-celled organism Paramecium bursaria can absorb and host algae (Chlorella spp), providing benefits for both, but when scientists made the water 5°C warmer, the partnership stopped working – and the algae may even become parasitic.
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NewsResearcher to study role of tiny diatoms in protecting endangered marine animals
A new study is aimed at understanding the essential role played by diatoms, tiny microalgae that can live in oceans or in symbiosis with endangered marine animal hosts and play a fundamental role in maintaining Earth’s delicate ecosystem.
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NewsStudy reveals close host–symbiont interactions in deep-sea chemosynthetic tubeworm
Researchers developed a deep-sea in situ single-cell fixation system, enabling them to analyze the trophosome of the deep-sea tubeworm Paraescarpia echinospica.
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NewsLong-standing marine mystery solved: How algae get nitrogen to grow
In a new study, scientists have shed light on an unexpected partnership: a marine diatom and a bacterium that can account for a large share of nitrogen fixation in vast regions of the ocean.
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NewsWe should help coral microbial symbionts evolve heat tolerance in the lab, researchers say
Researchers discuss the potential of improving corals’ chances by inducing the evolution of heat tolerance in their symbionts—the mutualistic microbes that provide corals with nutrients in exchange for shelter and that are expelled during coral bleaching.
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NewsScientists discover genetic ‘off switch’ in legume plants that limits biological ability to source nutrients
The discovery of a new genetic regulator in legumes could be key to understanding how to increase the crop’s capacity to convert nitrogen from the air and improve soil quality.
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NewsHidden partners: Symbiodolus bacteria found in various insect orders
Scientists have reported the discovery of the endosymbiont Symbiodolus, which is found in at least six different insect orders. They were able to show that Symbiodolus is present in all life stages and tissues of infected insects.
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NewsGiant deep-sea vent tubeworm symbionts use two carbon fixation pathways to grow at record speeds
New research sheds light on how a giant hydrothermal vent tubeworm living in the deep ocean coordinates the two functional carbon fixation pathways used by its symbiotic bacteria to sustain themselves and their host.
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NewsCompound produced by citrus pest's symbiotic bacteria promotes in vitro protein synthesis
The compound diaphorin produced by an insect symbiotic bacterium promotes the activity of an in vitro protein synthesis system using Escherichia coli-derived components, researchers have found.
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News2,000-year-old shipworm mystery solved - its destructive skills are down to bacterial symbionts
Scientists have discovered that a population of symbiotic microbes, living in an overlooked sub-organ of the shipworm gut called the ’typhlosole’, have the ability to secrete the enzymes needed to digest lignin—the toughest part of wood.
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NewsResearchers reveal how symbiotic bacteria adapt to big environmental changes
Faced with a drastically changing environment following the closure of the Isthmus of Panama, symbiotic bacteria in lucinid clams acquired new metabolic skills to enable their own survival, new research has revealed.
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NewsResearchers expose new symbiosis origin theories, identify experimental systems for plant life
A Mississippi State faculty member’s work on symbiosis is pushing back against the newer theory of a ‘single origin’ of root nodule symbiosis (RNS)—that all symbiosis between plant root nodules and nitrogen-fixing bacteria stems from one point—instead suggesting a ‘multiple-origin’ theory of symbiosis which opens a better understanding of genetically ...
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NewsStudy reveals key role of plant-bacteria communication in assembly of a healthy plant microbiome
A new study has found that symbiotic, nitrogen-fixing bacteria can ensure dominance among soil microbes due to their signalling-based communication with the legume plant host.
