The world's plants, immobile and rooted in soil which contains potentially lethal micro-organisms, face a constant threat from invading pathogens. In recent years, however, scientists have discovered that plant species employ ...
Plants & Animals
May 27, 2021
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19
Plants may induce "leaky gut syndrome"—permeability of the gut lining—in insects as part of a multipronged strategy for protecting themselves from being eaten, according to researchers at Penn State. By improving our ...
Ecology
Jul 22, 2019
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212
Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that bacteria can pair up their defense systems to create a formidable force, greater than the sum of its parts, to fight off attacks from phage viruses. Understanding ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 22, 2024
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44
Wageningen researchers have discovered a molecular self-destruct mechanism in a bacterium living on seaweed. With this mechanism the bacteria sacrifice themselves when they are infected, thus protecting their brothers and ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 16, 2024
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29
Bacteria have an immune system that protects them against viruses known as bacteriophages. A research team from the Universities of Tübingen and Würzburg has now shown how this immune system enhances the effect of specific ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 19, 2024
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18
There's no organism on Earth that lives free of threat—including bacteria. Predatory viruses known as phages are among their most dire foes, infiltrating their cells to replicate and take over. Bacteria have evolved an ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 15, 2023
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34
Scientists have long known that chloroplasts help plants turn the sun's energy into food, but a new study, led by plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, shows that they are also essential for plant immunity ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 25, 2023
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136
A clever protein inside the immune system could be used as a "weapon" against a common bacteria that in extreme cases is responsible for causing deadly flesh-eating disease, scientists from the Australian National University ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 20, 2023
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14
UT Southwestern biochemist Zhijian "James" Chen, Ph.D., famously identified the cGAS enzyme pathway that alerts the human immune system to disease-causing invaders like viruses. Since then, researchers have found that cGAS ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 1, 2023
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11
When heat waves hit, they don't just take a toll on people—the plants we depend on for food suffer too. That's because when temperatures get too high, certain plant defenses don't work as well, leaving them more susceptible ...
Ecology
Jun 29, 2022
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21
