Healthy land
Land has a wide variety of uses: agricultural, residential, industrial, and recreational. Microbes play a key role in the terrestrial ecosystem, providing symbiotic relationships with plants. Human use of land has led to the exhaustion of nutrients in soils, contamination of land, and a reduction in biodiversity. Applying our knowledge of microbes will be essential in restoring the biodiversity of affected ecosystems. Greater research into how microbes impact human life on land could all have a positive impact, by increasing crop production, repurposing areas of land and improving microbial biodiversity in soil, land, and water.
News
Flower to fruit: tracking the changing fungal community on blueberry plants
A study identifies how fungal diversity changes over time and across tissue types in highbush blueberry, revealing dynamic transitions in the phyllosphere from buds to ripe fruits. Early-season buds and flowers harbor the highest fungal diversity, while unripe green fruits display the lowest.
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NewsBiochar boosts clean energy output from food waste in novel two-stage digestion system
A new study from researchers at the University of Western Australia and Universitas Brawijaya has found that adding biochar to advanced food waste recycling systems can significantly increase the clean energy yields of hydrogen and methane. This breakthrough offers promising strategies for municipalities and industries aiming to turn food scraps ...
NewsManure digesters on farms carry limited benefits and potential harms
Manure digesters, touted as eco-friendly solutions for managing agricultural waste and reducing greenhouse gases, have limited capacity to reduce livestock-related greenhouse gas emissions, and entail potential hazards that may outweigh their benefits.
NewsScientist who harnesses bacteria to deliver green solutions is winner in 2025 Tata Transformation Prize
A scientist who harnesses bacteria to deliver green solutions has been named as one of the winners of the 2025 Tata Transformation Prize. Balasubramanian Gopal, PhD, Indian Institute of Science, has been named Sustainability Winner in the awards.
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News
A microbial blueprint for climate-smart cows
Recent research has shown that feeding cows red seaweed can dramatically cut the amount of methane that is produced and released into the environment. A new study sheds light on that process and reveals which microbes in the cow’s gut might help reduce methane.
NewsHepatitis E virus from rats can also infect humans in individual cases – a new zoonotic pathogen?
It has only been known for a few years that humans can also be infected with a variant of the hepatitis E virus that is usually prevalent in rats. Following reports of individual cases, mainly from Hong Kong and Spain, the first infection with ratHEV has now also been described in a patient from Germany.
NewsPig disease vaccine effectiveness linked to T cell response
A new study shows that the effectiveness of current vaccines against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is due to the response of T cells against the disease, rather than the production of antibodies. The work is an important step in identifying specific targets for vaccines on a rapidly mutating virus.
NewsMicrobial teamwork slashes uranium pollution in just 48 hours
A research team has developed a synthetic microbial consortium that completely reduces soluble uranium [U(VI)] to insoluble U(IV) within 48 hours, showing nearly twice the efficiency of a single-strain system. The study reveals how Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa LXZ1 cooperate to accelerate extracellular electron transfer (EET).
NewsAncient chemical clues reveal Earth’s earliest life 3.3 billion years ago
A new study uncovered fresh chemical evidence of life in rocks more than 3.3 billion years old, along with molecular traces showing that oxygen-producing photosynthesis emerged nearly a billion years earlier than previously thought. Researchers paired cutting-edge chemistry with artificial intelligence to reveal faint chemical “whispers” of biology locked inside ancient rocks.
NewsResearchers identify mangrove tree stems as previously underestimated methane source offsetting blue carbon benefits
A new study reveals that mangrove tree stems represent a significant yet previously underestimated source of methane. Additionally, stem emissions showed a strong correlation with soil methane fluxes, indicating that methane produced by anaerobic microbial activity in mangrove soils is transported upward through specialized aerenchyma tissues within the trees.
NewsWild birds are driving the current U.S. bird flu outbreak
Researchers traced the introduction and spread of highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses during the first 18 months in North America using genomic sequencing and migratory flyway analysis, discovering that the viruses were spread primarily by wild migrating birds.
NewsBacterial scents behind oak tree decline may be luring deadly beetles
The deadly decline of Britain’s native oak trees may be driven by an unexpected accomplice: their own smell. Scientists have discovered that trees affected by Acute Oak Decline (AOD) emit distinct odours that are highly attractive to the beetle Agrilus biguttatus, a key contributor to the decline.
NewsEveryday levels of antibiotics in the environment may accelerate the global spread of resistance, new study finds
A new study shows that even very small amounts of antibiotics that commonly appear in soil, rivers, wastewater, and agricultural runoff may significantly accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance genes among bacteria.
NewsNew blueprint for nature’s carbon-capturing nanomachines revealed
Researchers have uncovered how bacterial organelles assemble, opening new routes for bioengineering and climate innovation. The team has unveiled the most detailed picture yet of how bacteria construct microscopic compartments known as carboxysomes – natural nanomachines that play a vital role in capturing and converting carbon dioxide (CO₂).
NewsPredicting the development of biological communities in different kinds of ecosystems
Researchers tested a mechanistic consumer-resource model and confirmed its high predictive capacity. Using the model, the researchers refined current rules on the coexistence of species, too. Their findings can be applied to any situation in which communities of organisms compete for resources.
NewsNew study reveals microbial network restructuring mitigates long-term soil carbon emissions from warming
Scientists conducted a decade-long study that uncovered a previously unrecognized buffering mechanism in subtropical forest soils mitigating the effects of climate warming.
NewsFungal oxalic acid dampens plant immunity through targeting CERK1 deamidation
Scientists found that oxalic acid was a critical virulence factor for both S. sclerotiorum and B. cinerea during their infections of Arabidopsis plants. Further characterizations revealed that OA-mediated virulence in these fungal pathogens was contingent on CERK1.
NewsAvian flu halves South Georgia’s breeding elephant seal population
South Georgia’s breeding population of female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) may have been halved by highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV), finds new research. These losses may threaten the security of the island’s breeding population.
NewsImaging reveals bacterial symbionts in the ovaries of tiny, aquatic crustaceans
Researchers have imaged a heritable form of bacterial symbiosis inside the reproductive system of tiny crustaceans known as ostracods. Bacteria from the genus Cardinium live inside the egg cells and tissues of ostracod ovaries, transmitted from mothers to offspring.
NewsArctic plant–fungal partnerships are surprisingly flexible in a warming world
A new study suggests that Arctic fungi appear to form opportunistic partnerships with whatever plant hosts are available, rather than maintaining exclusive relationships. This flexibility may help both plants and fungi cope with rapid environmental change.
NewsRainfall and temperature shape mosquito fauna in Atlantic Forest bromeliads, including malaria vectors
Results from a study of mosquito larvae conducted in a natural area in the municipality of São Paulo (Brazil) may help estimate the effects of climate change on disease transmission risk in the biome.
NewsHigher methane emissions from warmer lakes and reservoirs may exacerbate worst-case climate scenario
Emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from lakes and reservoirs risk doubling by the end of the century due to climate change according to a new study. This in turn could raise Earth’s temperature more than suggested by the UN climate panel IPCC’s current worst-case scenario.
CareersSummer studentship: Jonas investigates how metals influence bacterial ecosystems
Jonas Flohr from Portsmouth reports back on his AMI-sponsored summer studentship at Durham University investigating how metals influence bacterial ecosystems.