Plastic pollution is a global problem. It damages ecosystems, endangers animals, and in the form of nanoplastic particles can also have consequences for human health.  A global agreement to regulate plastic pollution is therefore long overdue. However plastic particles have also become a new habitat for bacteria, viruses, fungi, and algae. The ecological significance of this ‘plastisphere’ for natural communities is the subject of numerous research projects. In this study, for example, researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have examined bacterial metagenomes. The results show that the genomes of microbes in the plastisphere are larger and contain more gene copies associated with functional processes than those of marine plankton. This adaption ensures their survival, the researchers write in Environmental Pollution.

Sharing habitat with livestock is changing elephants’ gut bacteria in ways that could be harmful to their health, according to new research conducted by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in collaboration with Save the Elephants.

Studies explored the role of H3K27me3 in early embryonic cell fate decisions via PCGF1-knockout models, finding that PCGF1 deficiency leads to embryonic lethality and blocked gastrulation. Mechanistically, PCGF1 maintains H3K27me3 homeostasis to silence pluripotency genes and balance epigenetic marks, highlighting dynamic H3K27me3 remodeling as a key driver of early lineage specification with implications for developmental biology and regenerative medicine.