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Fungal Invasion Threatens Amphibian Biodiversity in North America

According to recent studies, the amphibian biodiversity could suffer greatly if the fungus infection Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) were introduced to North America.

15 Jun 2023

How Do Plants Resist Clubroot?

Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, spearheaded by Yuhang Chen and Jianmin Zhou, have demonstrated how plants fight clubroot, a significant root disease that threatens the productivity of Brassica crops like rape.

12 Jun 2023

Study Offers New Perspective on the Understanding of Fungal Symbionts

Symbiotic and pathogenic fungi that interact with plants are distantly related and don't share many genetic similarities.

2 Jun 2023

Ancient DNA Reveals Earliest Evidence of Plague Cases in Britain

The Francis Crick Institute has discovered three 4,000-year-old British cases of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes the plague—the oldest evidence of the plague in Britain to date. The study was published in Nature Communications.

31 May 2023

Study Characterizes the Properties of MAIT Cells in Mouse Lung

A population of unconventional white blood cells has recently captured the attention of immunologists and clinicians alike.

26 May 2023

Innovative Online Tool Allows 'the Plant Destroyer' to Meets Its Match

Known as the "plant destroyer," the genus Phytophthora is considered one of the most important groups of plant pathogens-;causing significant economic and environmental losses throughout history and into today.

25 May 2023

Researchers Discover How Deadly Hospital Pathogen can Survive Harsh Environments

The deadly hospital pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii can live for a year on a hospital wall without food and water. Then, when it infects a vulnerable patient, it resists antibiotics as well as the body's built-in infection-fighting response.

17 May 2023

Infections with the Fungus Candida auris on the Rise in Germany

Candida auris is an extremely new species among yeasts from the Candida genus that cause infections in humans: it was only reported in 2009, and no evidence has been found prior to the 1990s.

16 May 2023

Gut Microbiota Interspecies Interactions may Impact the Efficacy of Antibiotics Against C. Difficile

Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) is a bacterium that can infect the large intestine, with symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening colon damage.

12 May 2023

Researchers Show a Second Key Gene Involved in Malaria's Resistance to Chloroquine

How malaria parasites evolved to evade a major antimalarial drug has long been thought to involve only one key gene.

12 May 2023

First Gene-Edited Calf Produced With Resistance to Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

Scientists have collaborated to produce the first gene-edited calf with resistance to bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), a virus that costs the U.S. cattle sector billions of dollars annually.

10 May 2023

T Cells can Fuel Their Ability to Attack Tumors

When you need a bit of motivation, it often has to come from within. New research suggests cancer-fighting immune cells have found a way to do just that.

9 May 2023

Newly Identified Broad-Spectrum Antivirals Can Target Multiple Families of RNA Viruses

A new study has identified potential broad-spectrum antiviral agents that can target multiple families of RNA viruses that continue to pose a significant threat for future pandemics.

2 May 2023

How Bacteria Take Action to Break Out of Dormancy

Solving a riddle that has confounded biologists since bacterial spores -; inert, sleeping bacteria -; were first described more than 150 years ago, researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered a new kind of cellular sensor that allows spores to detect the presence of nutrients in their environment and quickly spring back to life.

2 May 2023

Some Promising Human Antibodies can Fight New Variants of SARS-CoV-2

An anonymous San Diego resident has become a fascinating example of how the human immune system fights SARS-CoV-2.

27 Apr 2023

Capturing Viruses in a Lipid Trap

Viruses like influenza A and Ebola invade human cells in a number of steps. In an interdisciplinary approach, research teams from Heidelberg University and Heidelberg University Hospital investigated the final stages of viral penetration using electron tomography and computer simulations.

26 Apr 2023

Antibacterial Biologic Agent Effective Against Staphylococcus Aureus Infections in Early Tests

Researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Janssen Biotech, Inc. have shown in early tests that a bioengineered drug candidate can counter infection with Staphylococcus aureus – a bacterial species widely resistant to antibiotics and a major cause of death in hospitalized patients.

25 Apr 2023