Thousands of rapidly evolving aphid proteins initially resisted both conventional sequence comparisons and AlphaFold2. By sequencing closely related aphid species and supplying the missing evolutionary context, researchers uncovered a shared structural blueprint across approximately 2,400 proteins and established a method that may help scientists study other fast-evolving proteins involved in immunity, host-parasite interactions, and agriculture.

China’s agriculture has long faced three major problems: excessive chemical fertilizer application, residual mulch film pollution, and low utilization rates of livestock and poultry manure. Excessive fertilizer input leads to soil acidification and compaction, and nutrient use efficiency continues to decline. Traditional polyethylene (PE) mulch film is difficult to degrade, and its year-by-year accumulation forms microplastic pollution, damaging soil microbial communities and arable land health. At the same time, livestock waste such as cow manure is large in volume and widely distributed, but its resource utilization pathways are limited, and crop-livestock cycling is not smooth. The green transformation of agriculture urgently needs integrated technologies that simultaneously ensure stable yields, reduce fertilizer use, reduce plastic pollution, and improve soil fertility.

A new review traces more than 70 years of microecology research in China, from early ideas about microbial balance to today’s work in precision medicine, sustainable agriculture and environmental restoration. The authors argue that combining artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and international collaboration could help turn microbiome science into practical solutions for human, animal and environmental health.

A UK-led research collaboration has taken a significant step in the global effort to protect cereal crops from the devastating blast fungus pathogen.

Sheep grazing, rather than honey bees, could be the bigger threat to wild pollinators on Scotland’s moorlands, according to a new University of Bristol-led study. The research, published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology, has found that grazing in spring can remove much of the nectar emerging bumblebees need, while commercial honey bee hives introduced during the summer heather flowering period have a much smaller impact. 

The Bezos Earth Fund is granting $18 million for ROOTS, a three-year Salk project to test deeper-rooted, more resilient crops that can store more carbon in soil. The project builds on six years of work through Salk’s Harnessing Plants Initiative, which has identified 347 gene candidates and advanced 37 projects across genes and crops. The grant brings the Bezos Earth Fund’s total support for Salk to $48 million.