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
Researchers find evidence for two independent origins of life
Researchers retraced the origin of enzymes during life’s earliest divergence into bacteria and archaea, and found evidence for two independent origins of life for free-living cells.
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NewsNo-tillage and microbial fertilizer work together to build carbon in nutrient-poor albic soils
A field study in northeastern China shows that combining reduced soil disturbance with microbial organic fertilizer can increase soil organic carbon across both surface and deeper soil layers.
NewsChemolithoautotrophic breakthrough: bacteria converts CO2 into p-coumaric acid without light
p-Coumaric acid is a critical building block for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and functional foods. A new study research leverages C. necator H16’s ability to use H2 as an energy source and CO2 as its sole carbon source.
NewsLemurs fall prey to human herpes virus
A new study marks the first time researchers have been able to confirm human herpesvirus in lemurs via a molecular analysis, outlining the cases of four privately owned animals who died from the illness.
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News
Soil properties determine how farmland microbes release nitrous oxide
A study of agricultural soils reports that physicochemical constraints and microbial functional differences jointly regulate denitrification, causing carbon and nitrogen inputs to alter N₂O and N₂ production differently among soil types.
NewsHidden genome variation steers growth in fungus-dependent orchid
A chromosome-level genome and population survey of the fungus-dependent orchid Gastrodia elata has revealed how hidden genetic differences may shape growth, tuber form, and carbohydrate allocation.
NewsWarming reshapes how nitrogen is stored and lost in flooded rice soils
A three-year field experiment shows that higher temperatures accelerate nitrogen cycling while promoting retention in protected soil pools.
NewsSilencing a fungal wall protein cuts powdery mildew on melon leaves
Powdery mildew fungi survive on living plants behind a cell wall that provides both structural support and a shield against host immunity. Researchers have now identified the fungal cell wall assembly protein ECM33 as a weak point in that defense.
NewsOxygen nanobubbles turn biochar into an active defense against cadmium in flooded rice soils
A newly engineered biochar maintained oxygen around rice roots, shifted cadmium into more stable soil forms, and substantially reduced cadmium accumulation in rice plants.
NewsCould understanding leaf surfaces lead to new ways to prevent crop disease?
Researchers have adopted a biointerfaces approach to the problem of fungicide resistance in plant diseases. Rather than treating fungal diseases with nontargeted fungicide application, they suggest looking at the location where plant-fungi interactions begin: the leaf’s surface.
NewsAmazonian ‘zombie’ fungus harbors a hidden stage inside forest mosses, new study reveals
Researchers have found evidence that the “zombie-ant” fungus, globally known for controlling ant behavior and forcing infected ants to bite onto plants before dying, also lives hidden inside mosses in the Amazon rainforest.
NewsHow does a deadly chicken virus escape vaccines designed to slow it?
A new genome-wide study of the Marek’s disease virus identified 10 regions in the genome associated with what makes certain strains more virulent, and could inform next-generation vaccines.
NewsGenomic upheaval: How grapevine downy mildew builds its weaponry through structural chaos
Researchers have assembled two complete, chromosome-level genomes of Plasmopara viticola from distinct grapevine hosts, revealing that nearly 90% of the pathogen’s effector genes exist as locally duplicated gene clusters.
NewsStudy detects, for the first time in Brazil, bacteria that cause a serious disease in farmed fish
Columnaris disease pathogens, which were previously only found in Asia and the United States, were identified in samples from São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Paraná. This finding underscores the need for epidemiological surveillance and new vaccines.
NewsIn the right place, even a less fit species can win
A study based on mathematical models shows that, when competing populations colonize new territory, greater fitness is not enough: position and expansion speed also matter.
NewsRedistributing sunlight boosts algae biomass productivity sixfold
Researchers have developed a low-energy way to distribute sunlight more evenly throughout algae cultivation systems. The technology increased algae biomass productivity by as much as six times in outdoor testing.
NewsGeology: Antarctica’s Blood Falls reveals an ancient marine community
Salty water flowing through Antarctica’s Blood Falls contains a distinct community of marine-specific microorganisms, providing evidence that the brine system beneath the glacier has a marine origin.
NewsLeishmania: When tropical parasites use immune cells as a taxi
Tom Beneke intends to clarify, as part of the new Emmy Noether Research Group ‘LeishMove’, exactly how the Leishmania parasites control their host cells and which variations in the parasites are necessary for this.
NewsNew framework to reveal how microbial modulators can work alongside agricultural practices to boost plant performance
Scientists have proposed a new framework for understanding how microbes, soil fauna, viruses and compounds in the soil can be used alongside agricultural practices to reshape the native plant microbiome and boost plant performance.
NewsMicroorganisms actively shape the ocean floor
At a newly discovered hydrothermal system in the Mediterranean, researchers were able to demonstrate how different intensities of hydrothermal fluid flow shape microbial communities and control mineral formation on the ocean floor.
NewsRock-eating fungi flourish deep below our feet
A new study is believed to be the first time fungal abundance has been successfully quantified in a deep subsurface site. It identified 689 unique species of fungi, including 13 species that have not been described before, in water samples drawn from gas well sites.
NewsTrees and microbes team up to improve nitrogen nutrient processes in future CO2 conditions
Researchers studying how a 180-year-old oak woodland responded after exposure to the CO₂ levels expected in the future discover that microbes “mine” soil nutrients, supplying 30% more available nitrogen to help trees sustain carbon capture.
NewsHow bats tolerate viruses: study sheds light on one of nature’s biggest immune mysteries
Researchers have found that the world’s largest family of bats has two distinct copies of the genes that produce antibodies, the specialized proteins that help the immune system recognize and fight infections. Every other known mammal has only one such set.