Many of an organism's traits are influenced by cues from the organism's environment. These features are known as phenotypically plastic traits and are important in allowing an organism to cope with unpredictable environments.
Ecology
Jun 14, 2019
0
495
(Phys.org) —When the infectious fungus Histoplasma capsulatum feels the temperature start to rise, it undergoes a transformation. As it shifts its shape from long filaments to oval cells, the pathogen switches on genes ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 29, 2013
0
0
A team led by Tappei Mishina at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) has discovered that parasites manipulate their hosts using stolen genes that they likely acquired through a phenomenon called horizontal ...
Evolution
Oct 19, 2023
2
92
Scientists have discovered an unusual symbiosis between tiny single-celled algae and highly specialized bacteria. Their partnership plays an important role in marine ecosystems, fertilizing the oceans by taking nitrogen from ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 20, 2012
0
0
The findings, published in the journal Science today, demonstrate how integrating vertical descent and horizontal gene transfer can be used to infer the root of the bacterial tree and the nature of the last bacterial common ...
Evolution
May 6, 2021
0
107
The quest to better understand how genomic information is read has taken a new step forward, thanks to pioneering new research.
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 6, 2019
0
69
MIT researchers have discovered that certain photosynthetic ocean bacteria should beware of viruses bearing gifts: These viruses are carrying genetic material taken from their previous bacterial hosts that tricks the new ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 26, 2012
0
0
Dodder vines are parasitic plants that suck water, nutrients and information from other plants as they spread over them. Plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, have now shown that they can make plants resistant ...
Biotechnology
Jul 24, 2012
0
0
Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved unprecedented success in modifying a microbe to efficiently produce a compound of interest using a computational model and CRISPR-based gene ...
Biotechnology
Nov 10, 2020
0
384
Scientists have discovered that poxviruses, which are responsible for smallpox and other diseases, can adapt to defeat different host antiviral defenses by quickly and temporarily producing multiple copies of a gene that ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 16, 2012
0
0
