Host specificity is the biological process by which a parasite, pathogen, symbiont, or herbivore exhibits a restricted range of host taxa that it can successfully infect, colonize, or utilize, determined by molecular recognition, physiological compatibility, and ecological interactions. It involves coevolutionary dynamics between host and associated organism, including receptor–ligand matching, immune evasion or suppression, metabolic dependence, and niche adaptation. Host specificity can be narrow (specialism) or broad (generalism) and is quantified using measures such as host range breadth and phylogenetic host distance. It shapes patterns of disease emergence, host shifts, co-speciation, and community structure, and is a central parameter in epidemiology, invasion biology, and host–microbe interaction research.
Legumes like soybeans, alfalfa, peas, beans, peanuts and many more have a remarkable ability: They can partner with soil bacteria called rhizobia to capture nitrogen from the air in a biological process called nitrogen fixation. ...
Molecular & Computational biology
May 4, 2026
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7
In every backyard, park, and playground on Earth, the ground is teeming with a type of bacteria called Streptomyces—one of the most abundant organisms on the planet. While these dirt-dwelling microbes are known for producing ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 30, 2026
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115
A research team from the LKS Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) has developed a machine-learning classifier capable of analyzing the genomes of influenza A viruses (IAVs) to accurately predict their ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 29, 2026
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Collaboration between the UCO's Agronomy and Genetics departments was key to sequencing the genome of this pathogen, which is responsible for losses of up to €50 million per year. Cercospora leaf spot is an olive tree disease ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 26, 2026
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8
Wild bumblebees serve as key hosts for acute bee paralysis virus. While the virus appears to cause little harm to bumblebees, infection is usually fatal to honeybees. Until now, it was assumed that honeybees were the key ...
Ecology
Mar 24, 2026
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420
Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), such as dengue and Zika viruses, transmit widely across the globe, posing threats to human health and biosecurity. They spread through the bites of arthropod vectors, moving between ...
Ecology
Mar 23, 2026
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8
The preference of some mosquitoes in the Anopheles leucosphyrus (Leucosphyrus) group—including those that transmit malaria—for feeding on humans may have evolved in response to the arrival of early hominins in Southeast Asia ...
Evolution
Feb 26, 2026
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55
What do coffee, sugar, wheat, soy, eucalypts and paperbarks all have in common?
Plants & Animals
Feb 23, 2026
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16
In a new study published in Cell, scientists in the Bork Group at EMBL Heidelberg reveal that microbes living in similar habitats are more alike than those simply inhabiting the same geographical region. By analyzing tens ...
Ecology
Feb 9, 2026
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58
A large-scale population metagenomic study has shed new light on the spatial heterogeneity of viral communities across the gastrointestinal tracts of ruminants, which are closely linked to human history. The team, led by ...
Ecology
Feb 6, 2026
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