Biology

Blogs about biology

Scheme of cacao fruit and beans

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An article published in the journal “PLoS ONE” reports the discovery of four previously unknown cacao lineages in Peru. A team of researchers conducted an analysis of 390 cacao trees representing traditional Amazonian varieties, and the results led to the discovery of the previously unknown lineages. This also provides a better understanding of the genetic characteristics of cacao in different regions. Two of the lineages discovered through this study also offer new potential for achieving improved flavor in chocolate.

Bacteriophage strains seen under an electron microscope, cataloged as: (A) phi330; (B) phi296; (C) phi315; (D) phi345; (E) phi346; (F) phi349; (G) phi367; (H) phi419

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An article published in the journal “Microbiology Spectrum” reports the results of experiments based on the use of genetically modified bacteriophage viruses to combat strains of Escherichia coli bacteria that developed resistance to various antibiotics. These findings offer a way to neutralize these bacteria and new insights into the interactions between bacteriophages and bacteria that may be useful in other medical research.

A team of researchers led by biologist Jessie Vandierendonck of the Free University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel – VUB) characterized eight different so-called temperate bacteriophages and tested genetic modifications that enabled these viruses to insert Shiga toxin into enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli bacteria to neutralize them. This proof-of-concept could represent the beginning of a strategy to combat harmful bacteria.

An illustration of the musculoskeletal system of the African coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae)

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An article published in the journal “Science Advances” reports the results of a thorough examination of the cranial musculature of the African coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), a so-called living fossil because it has changed very little over tens of millions of years. Professor Aléssio Datovo of the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and G. David Johnson of the Smithsonian Institution dissected two specimens of this fish to gain new insights into the evolution of gnathostomes, a chordate infraphylum that includes jawed vertebrates. As a result, the two researchers discovered that much anatomical information about coelacanths was incorrect.

A predatory protist (Photo courtesy Camille Poirier and David Needham, Worden Lab)

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An article published in the journal “Cell Host & Microbe” reports the results of a study on the widespread symbiosis between predatory protists and bacteria related to species that are pathogenic to various animal species and sometimes to humans. A team of researchers led by scientists from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) conducted a series of analyses on water samples collected at the surface of the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the North Atlantic and identified protists that have predatory habits that eat some species of bacteria but are in symbiosis with other species. The results suggest a long and complex history of relationships that sometimes are symbiosis and sometimes are parasitism by bacteria with animals and choanoflagellates, the closest relatives of animals among eukaryotes.

Colony of Salpingoeca rosetta

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An article published in the journal “Science Advances” reports the results of a study on microbes of the species Salpingoeca rosetta that offers evidence that individuals exchange electrical signals they use to coordinate their behaviors. Jeffrey Colgren and Pawel Burkhardt of the Michael Sars Centre at the University of Bergen, Norway, used a newly developed genetic tool to examine the behaviors of colonies of these microbes that belong to the group of choanoflagellates (Choanoflagellata), the eukaryotes most closely related to animals.