How do bacteria adapt when resources run low? ISTA researchers have found that, under starvation stress, E. coli can use bacteriophages and CRISPR-Cas immunity to transfer and incorporate DNA, accelerating genetic reshuffling. The process resembles a primitive form of sexual reproduction and may help bacterial populations adapt to changing conditions. The findings were published in Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Researchers have discovered a new cell type that may help regulate blood vessel growth in the heart during development and in response to injury, according to a study from Weill Cornell Medicine.

Virginia Tech researchers successfully killed the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus in animal studies by identifying how it resists current therapeutic methods. It has long been known to cause a severe, rapid respiratory infection, and it has become harder to fight. Published in Molecular Biology of the Cell, the researchers believe this could be the key to defeating the fungus.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the bacteria frequently found in human and animal infections, particularly mastitis. An international research team coordinated by INRAE and involving ENS Paris-Saclay has discovered that it is much more robust and virulent in milk than in serum or laboratory culture media. Their findings, published in Communications Biology, show that S. aureus uses milk lipids to form an envelope that is about three times thicker, making it much more resistant to antibiotic treatment. The bacteria also produce more of the pigment responsible for their golden colour, increasing their virulence during infection. The remarkable robustness of S. aureus in milk may mean that antibiotic treatment protocols for mastitis need to be adapted when milk is abundant, in both humans and animals.

A new grant awarded to UC San Diego and the University of Vermont will enable the construction of a national biological observatory, which will empower new discoveries in neurosciences and basic biology.

Whether in drug discovery, environmental analysis or metabolomics: anyone analysing complex biological samples often needs to identify the small molecules they contain. Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, in collaboration with partners from the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich, have developed a method that addresses a problem in analytical Chemistry that has persisted for decades. In the latest issue of the journal »Nature Methods«, the team led by bioinformatician Prof. Dr Sebastian Böcker presents its new tool.

Researchers used GPS data from 172 jaguars to identify priority habitats and potential movement corridors across the species' range, revealing a vast connected South American stronghold but also substantial connectivity gaps in several regions outside the Amazon.