Category archives: Microbiology

Could the largest known proteins be synthesized by the smallest bacteria?

Could the largest known proteins be synthesized by the smallest bacteria?

BiologyMicrobiology

By Invited Researcher

Author: Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli has been Professor of Animal Biology in the University of Málaga until his retirement. He has investigated for forty years in the fields of developmental biology and animal evolution. On October 11th, I published an article on Mapping Ignorance about the microbial dark matter, the vast diversity of microorganisms that cannot be […]

Throwing light on microbial dark matter

Throwing light on microbial dark matter

BiologyMicrobiology

By Invited Researcher

microbial dark matter Author: Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli has been Professor of Animal Biology in the University of Málaga until his retirement. He has investigated for forty years in the fields of developmental biology and animal evolution. In recent years, single cell genomics and metagenomic studies of environmental samples have enabled insights into “microbial dark matter”, the […]

Stolen phototrophy and enslaved nuclei: the sophisticated strategy of <i>Mesodinium rubrum</i>

Stolen phototrophy and enslaved nuclei: the sophisticated strategy of Mesodinium rubrum

BiologyMicrobiology

By Invited Researcher

Mesodinium Author: Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli has been Professor of Animal Biology in the University of Málaga until his retirement. He has investigated for forty years in the fields of developmental biology and animal evolution. The ciliate Mesodinium rubrum acquires phototrophy by ingestion of a photosynthetic cryptomonad. Besides the stolen plastid (derived from a secondary endosymbiotic event […]

Food systems on Mars are set to transform food on Earth

Food systems on Mars are set to transform food on Earth

BiotechnologyFood processingMicrobiologyPlanetary SciencePlant biology

By Invited Researcher

Could we feed a city on Mars? This question is central to the future of space exploration and has serious repercussions on Earth too. To date, a lot of thought has gone into how astronauts eat; however, we are only beginning to produce food in space. Space launches are quite expensive. And with the growing […]

Toxoplasma induces behavioural changes in intermediate hosts and promotes social rise in wolves

Toxoplasma induces behavioural changes in intermediate hosts and promotes social rise in wolves

BiologyEthologyMicrobiologyPhysiology

By Invited Researcher

Author: Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli has been Professor of Animal Biology in the University of Málaga until his retirement. He has investigated for forty years in the fields of developmental biology and animal evolution. Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite of warm-blooded animals, including humans. After the acute phase of the infection, the parasite remains latent in […]

Cyanobacteria could help colonize the moon and Mars

Cyanobacteria could help colonize the moon and Mars

GeosciencesMicrobiology

By César Tomé

The biochemical process by which cyanobacteria acquire nutrients from rocks in Chile’s Atacama Desert has inspired engineers to think of new ways microbes might help humans build colonies on the moon and Mars. Researchers used high-resolution electron microscopy and advanced spectroscopic imaging techniques to gain a precise understanding of how microorganisms modify both naturally occurring […]

Seti: how microbes could communicate with alien species

Seti: how microbes could communicate with alien species

AstronomyBiologyMicrobiologyPhysics

By Invited Researcher

Authors: Predrag Slijepcevic, Senior Lecturer in Biology, Brunel University London and Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe, Honorary Professor, University of Buckingham Are we alone in the universe? The famous Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) programme has been trying to answer this question since 1959. American astronomer Carl Sagan, and many others, believed that other human-like civilisations must […]

Bacterial communities can store memories

Bacterial communities can store memories

Computer scienceMicrobiology

By Invited Researcher

Author: María Girbés Mínguez is a doctoral student at Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg (ZMNH) / UKE (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf) A recent study published in the journal Cell Systems uncovered that bacterial communities (biofilms) can store complex patterns of information through membrane potentials at the cellular level, in a similar way to neurons. But […]

Bees seeking bacteria: How bees find their microbiome

Bees seeking bacteria: How bees find their microbiome

BiologyMicrobiology

By Invited Researcher

In late summer last year my doctor prescribed a monthlong course of antibiotics for an infection. Medicines like antibiotics are great at wiping out bacterial infections. The problems is that these drugs don’t differentiate between eliminating the “good” bacteria that may benefit our health and the “bad” bacteria causing infection. I was absolutely miserable and […]