Ancient marine organism's dual-layer structure reveals both past and present ocean environments https://phys.org/news/2025-02-ancient-marine-dual-layer-reveals.html

A cosmopolitan calcifying benthic #foraminifera in agglutinated disguise as a geochemical recorder of coastal environments https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2413054122

"This species has a remarkable hidden feature—an inner shell made of calcium carbonate beneath its outer layer of gathered particles... [this] made them an excellent recorder of environmental conditions."

Mapping #Antarctica's hidden ice-free lands: A blueprint for conservation https://phys.org/news/2025-01-antarctica-hidden-ice-free-blueprint.html paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-04424-y

"The ice-free lands are home to uniquely adapted flora including micro-forests of #lichens, #moss, and two flowering plants, Antarctic hairgrass and pearlwort. They also sustain a variety of #mites, #springtails, #tardigrades, #nematodes, #algae, and #microbes. #Seabirds have established breeding colonies in these areas too."

Tiny microbe colonies communicate to coordinate their behavior https://www.uib.no/en/michaelsarscentre/175104/tiny-microbe-colonies-communicate-coordinate-their-behavior

Electrical signaling and coordinated behavior in the closest relative of animals https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr7434

"A new study reveals evidence of electrical signaling and coordinated behavior in #choanoflagellates, the closest living relatives of #animals. This elaborate example of cell communication offers key insights into the early #evolution of animal #multicellularity and nervous systems."

This #amoeba eats prey like #owls do https://www.sciencenews.org/article/amoeba-eats-removes-shell

The vampyrellid amoeba #Strigomyxa ruptor gen. et sp. nov. and its remarkable strategy to acquire algal cell contents https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.70191

"The microscopic predator engulfs #algae, drains the cells and spits out the shell"

Research reveals even single-cell organisms exhibit habituation, a simple form of learning https://phys.org/news/2024-11-reveals-cell-habituation-simple.html

Biochemically plausible models of habituation for single-cell learning: Lina Eckert et al. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)01430-1

"Earlier work found that a single-cell ciliate showed avoidance behavior, not unlike the actions observed in animals that encounter unpleasant stimuli."

The mystery of the secretly sexual lichens https://phys.org/news/2024-11-mystery-secretly-sexual-lichens.html

Rethinking asexuality: the enigmatic case of functional sexual genes in #Lepraria. By Meredith Doellman https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-024-10898-8

"#lichen called Lepraria, long assumed to be asexual, still has the genes that govern sexual reproduction. These #lichens contrary to what scientists have thought for decades, may have secret sex lives that no one has been able to observe."

#SynThera is a new project in synthetic biology by @unijena and Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung to combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
With engineered #microbes, “SynThera” aims to target specific infections with precision, offering safe and personalized treatments.

https://www.leibniz-hki.de/en/press-release/a-way-out-of-the-antibiotics-crisis.html

@c_hertweck

New Method Reveals Hidden Activity of Life Below Ground https://www.dri.edu/new-method-reveals-hidden-activity-of-life-below-ground/

Species-resolved, single-cell respiration rates reveal dominance of sulfate reduction in a deep continental subsurface ecosystem: Melody Lindsay et al. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2309636121

"deep wells in the #DeathValley regional flow system provide windows into #subsurface environments... one of them contains several key #microorganisms that are only found in the deepest South African #GoldMines"

Microscopic marine organisms can create parachute-like #mucus structures that stall CO₂ absorption from atmosphere https://phys.org/news/2024-10-microscopic-marine-parachute-mucus-stall.html

Hidden comet tails of #MarineSnow impede ocean-based #carbon sequestration https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl5767

"marine snow sometimes creates parachute-like mucus structures that effectively double the time the organisms linger in the upper 100 meters of the ocean. This prolonged suspension increases the likelihood of other #microbes breaking down the organic carbon"

#Microbes used poison gas in battle for iron in the Earth's early oceans https://phys.org/news/2024-10-microbes-poison-gas-iron-earth.html

Inhibition of phototrophic iron oxidation by nitric oxide in ferruginous environments: Verena Nikeleit et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01560-9

"A new study investigates how various #bacteria excrete insoluble iron as part of their metabolic processes. Some—the phototrophic iron oxidizers—gain energy by oxidizing Fe with the help of sunlight, and others by reacting Fe with nitrate as an oxidizing agent."

#ISEPpapers 24: April, May, and June 2024 https://www.isep-protists.com/post/iseppapers-24

Your twenty-fourth digest of papers and preprints published by members of the International Society for Evolutionary Protistology is here!

Hijacking the command center of the cell: Nuclear #parasites in deep-sea mussels https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hijacking-center-cell-nuclear-parasites.html #bacteria #microbes #animals

An intranuclear bacterial parasite of #DeepSea mussels expresses apoptosis inhibitors acquired from its host https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-024-01808-5

"A single bacterial cell penetrates into the #mussels' nucleus and then reproduces to over 80,000 cells, causing the nucleus to swell to 50 times its original size."

ASM #AgarArt Contest: Use #microbes to create #art:

Web: https://asm.org/Events/ASM-Agar-Art-Contest/Winners
YouTube instructions: https://youtu.be/LXwxU-nIcDY
#DIYbio #lab #microbiology #ComnunityLab

Interested in #nextflow & anything 'meta-' ?(#metagenomics, #metabarcoding, #metatranscriptomics, #metaproteomics, #microbes #MicrobialEcology & more!)

Join us next Tuesday 13:00 CEST (3rd September) for an nf-core #bytesize for the #metaomics #nfcore special interest group! (Also on YouTube after!)

We will introduce how we want the community to work together with #users and #bioinformatics developers to make the best pipelines for anything 'meta-'

Zoom: https://nf-co.re/events/2024/bytesize_sig_meta_omics

Power of #microbes: Utilization of improvised #microbial #FuelCell (IMFC) as an interdisciplinary #learning activity in #teaching #bioelectricity:
https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00146-23
#DIYbio #lab #instruments #MINT #STEM #education #OpenSource #school

2024 has been a spectacular year for #phytoplankton symbiosis: @vincentflora at #ISME19.

Nitrogen-fixing #organelle in a marine alga https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk1075

#Rhizobia–diatom #symbiosis fixes missing nitrogen in the ocean https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07495-w

On the last day of #ISME19 in #CapeTown, @jacksontsuji is talking about novel phototrophic #bacteria and what these #microbes can tell us about Earth's early #ocean ecosystems. This discovery was a product of a previous @ISMEmicrobes meeting!

New #ISEPpapers! Foraging mechanisms in excavate #flagellates shed light on the functional ecology of early eukaryotes https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2317264121 #protists #microbes #evolution #eukaryogenesis

#Trees reveal #climate surprise: #Microbes living in bark remove #methane from the atmosphere https://phys.org/news/2024-07-trees-reveal-climate-microbes-bark.html

Global atmospheric methane uptake by upland #tree woody surfaces https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07592-w

"microbes living in bark or in the wood itself are removing atmospheric methane on a scale equal to or above that of soil. They calculate that this newly discovered process makes trees 10% more beneficial for climate overall than previously thought."

Thinking like diatoms https://microscopesandmonsters.wordpress.com/2024/07/20/thinking-like-diatoms/ #microbes #protists #algae

"the position of the raphes on the curved edge of #diatoms such as Cymatopleura inevitably means that they cannot move in straight lines. We spend our life attuned to a world where #animals tend to move in straight lines... we have to remember that Cymatopleura inhabits disordered 3D worlds where any adjustment that aids resource acquisition may be considered advantageous... we need to think like diatoms."