Eukaryotes News and Research

RSS

Venom is everywhere: Study examines hidden toxin delivery systems across life forms

Forget snakes and spiders—a new review details venomous plants, fungi, and even bacteria, proving that nature's deadliest secret weapon is more widespread than we ever imagined.

23 Feb 2025

EMBL researchers reveal new structural insights into minor spliceosome function

In human cells, only a small proportion of the information written in genes is used to produce proteins. How does the cell select this information? A large molecular machine called the spliceosome continuously separates the coding and non-coding regions of our genes – and it's doing this even as you read these lines.

12 Feb 2025

Pocket on cyclin B ensures correct sequence of cell division

A "pocket" on the protein cyclin B is responsible for ensuring that the steps of cell division take place in the correct order. Two studies by researchers at the University of Konstanz investigated why this is the case.

28 Jan 2025

Research sheds light on resistance to novobiocin in Staphylococcus aureus

Announcing a new article publication for Zoonoses journal. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) are critical pathogens identified by the WHO for their significant drug resistance.

28 Jan 2025

Establishing common nomenclature for mitochondria transfer and transplantation

Most animal, plant and fungal cells contain organelles called mitochondria. These descendants of a primordial bacterial endosymbiont still preserve distinct genes and are known for their ability to create ATP as chemical energy.

27 Jan 2025

Unraveling retrotransposon mechanisms in centromere insertion

A joint research group team led by Sayuri Tsukahara and Tetsuji Kakutani of the University of Tokyo has clarified a mechanism of how retrotransposons, genetic elements that can "jump around" chromosomes and are known drivers of evolution, preferentially insert in the centromere.

1 Jan 2025

Targeted bacteriophages offer standardized and scalable GI therapy

In a new study, researchers at the University of Copenhagen have been cultivating 'good viruses' from feces. The goal is to replace fecal capsules now being used in so-called fecal transplants. Their new technique has shown potential in studies with mice and the hope is that it will improve this life-saving treatment through standardization and pave its way toward mainstream medicine.

5 Nov 2024

CDCA7 identified as key player in hemimethylation sensing

DNA methylation is a process in which a methyl group is attached to the cytosine base of the DNA molecule, and a major way that DNA is epigenetically marked.

28 Aug 2024

Study illuminates CDCA7's role in DNA methylation

DNA methylation, a process by which methyl groups are added to DNA molecules, is essential for the maintenance of DNA and the overall health of an organism.

27 Aug 2024

Computational tools reveal 3D structures of viral proteins

These rapid shifts mean that researchers are still trying to understand a multitude of viral proteins and precisely how they increase viruses' infecting abilities - knowledge that could be crucial for developing new or better virus-fighting treatments.

27 Aug 2024

Asgard archaea's role in eukaryotic immunity revealed

When you get infected with a virus, some of the first weapons your body deploys to fight it were passed down to us from our microbial ancestors billions of years ago.

22 Aug 2024

How C. elegans uses smell to preemptively guard against pathogen attacks

Many organisms react to the smell of deadly pathogens by reflexively avoiding them. But a recent study from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that the nematode C. elegans also reacts to the odor of pathogenic bacteria by preparing its intestinal cells to withstand a potential onslaught.

7 Aug 2024

Archaea: Unseen players in human microbiome and infectious diseases

Archaea, key players in the human microbiome, are linked to various diseases but their pathogenic potential remains speculative. This study highlights their role in conditions like periodontitis and gastrointestinal infections.

16 Jul 2024

Investigating the evolution of cell division mechanisms in Ichthyosporea

Cell division is fundamental to life, enabling growth, reproduction, and survival across all organisms, from single-celled bacteria to complex multicellular animals.

23 May 2024

Study explores how different modes of cell division evolved in close relatives of fungi and animals

Cell division is one of the most fundamental processes of life. From bacteria to blue whales, every living being on Earth relies on cell division for growth, reproduction, and species survival.

23 May 2024

Quantum biology's new frontier: Tryptophan networks and brain disease defense

The effects of quantum mechanics - the laws of physics that apply at exceedingly small scales - are extremely sensitive to disturbances.

29 Apr 2024

Study rethinks immune system strategies to boost vaccine effectiveness

A recent Cell journal review explores key immunological assumptions to enhance our understanding of vaccine design, autoimmune responses, and immune system pathology, aiming to refine intervention strategies and theoretical frameworks in immunology.

28 Apr 2024

Unraveling epigenetic contributions to autoimmune skin diseases

The central dogma proposed that genetic information predominantly transfers from DNA to RNA during gene expression to make a functional product protein.

25 Mar 2024

Clay Wright awarded prestigious MIRA funding for engineering common cellular signals

Clay Wright, assistant professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Department of Biological Systems Engineering, was awarded a prestigious Maximizing Investigators' Research Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health.

14 Mar 2024

Breakthrough gene therapy method utilizes bird retrotransposon for safe gene insertion

The recent approval of a CRISPR-Cas9 therapy for sickle cell disease demonstrates that gene editing tools can do a superb job knocking out genes to cure hereditary disease.

20 Feb 2024