Bacteria provide immunity against giant viruses

Amoebae receive surprising support in defense against viruses: The bacteria they are infected with prevent them from being destroyed by giant viruses. A research team led by microbiologist Matthias Horn from the Center for ...

A natural CO2-sink thanks to symbiotic bacteria

Seagrasses cover large swathes of shallow coastal seas, where they provide a vital habitat. They also remove large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and store it in the ecosystem. However, seagrasses need ...

Symbionts sans frontieres: Bacterial partners travel the world

This pandemic year has restricted international travel for humans. Not so for some microscopic bacteria in the ocean: They partner up with clams living in the sand beneath the shimmering waters of coastal habitats throughout ...

Microbial resident enables beetles to feed on a leafy diet

An international team including researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology has described a bacterium residing in a species of leaf beetles which has an unexpected feature: it provides the beetle with the ...

Cnidarians remotely control bacteria

In modern life sciences, a paradigm shift is becoming increasingly evident: life forms are no longer considered to be self-contained units, but instead highly-complex and functionally-interdependent communities of organisms. ...

Symbiotic ciliates and bacteria have a common ancestor

Ciliates, just like humans, are colonized by a vast diversity of bacteria. Some ciliates and their bacterial symbionts have become friends for life, as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in ...

Microbe-mediated adaptation to a novel diet

Insects are the most diverse animal group on earth. Many of them feed on plants, and they are constantly challenged by the diverse direct and indirect defenses of their food plants as well as an imbalanced nutrient composition. ...

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