https://phys.org/biology-news/ en-us Read the latest science news from Phys.org on biology, evolution, microbiology, biotechnology New research in PLOS ONE uncovers an important discovery in the study of marine mammal health by being the first study to detect Otariid gammaherpesvirus 1 (OtGHV1) in free-ranging South American pinnipeds, as well as a novel herpesvirus Otariid gammaherpesvirus 8 (OtGHV8) in South American sea lions (Otaria byronia) in the Southern Hemisphere. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-reveals-herpesvirus-south-american-pinnipeds.html Plants & Animals Veterinary medicine Wed, 06 Mar 2024 17:01:03 EST news628966862 The polysaccharide β-1,2-glucan consists of repeating units of glucose linked together by β-1,2-glycosidic bonds. Cyclic β-1,2-glucans (CβGs) occur in different bacterial species and have a role in bacterial infections and symbiotic relationships. CβG biosynthesis is catalyzed by cyclic β-1,2-glucan synthase (CGS), an enzyme that catalyzes the cyclization (closed ring formation) of linear β-1,2-glucan (LβG). https://phys.org/news/2024-03-uncovering-cyclization-mechanism-cyclic-glucan.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:46:00 EST news628965958 While ecologically important, small mushrooms on monocots (grasses and sedges) are rarely studied and a lack of information about their habitat and DNA sequences creates difficulties in determining their presence or absence in ecological studies and their genetic relationships to other mushroom taxa. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-genus-fungi-grasses.html Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:20:03 EST news628964402 The determination of animal growth rate and body size is an interesting scientific issue, and understanding the molecular mechanisms involved can guide agricultural production for genetic breeding. However, differences in the genetic background across species have led to slow progress in related research. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-comparison-diploid-triploid-hybrid-fish.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:17:03 EST news628964221 Birds migrating from north to south are a given, but migrating from the southwest to the southeast is a little rarer. A burrowing owl is overwintering on a Tennessee River peninsula near New Johnsonville, Tennessee, marking the first sighting of the species in the state, and a Mississippi State wildlife ecologist is researching the fascinating oddity. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-texas-tennessee-burrowing-owl-odd.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:54:42 EST news628959247 Bumblebees and chimpanzees can learn skills from their peers so complicated that they could never have mastered them on their own, an ability previously thought to be unique to humans, two studies said on Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-humans-bees-chimps-skills.html Plants & Animals Evolution Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:40:01 EST news628958079 Invasive plants can stay dormant for decades or even centuries after they have been introduced into an environment before rapidly expanding and wreaking ecological havoc, according to a new study led by the University of California, Davis. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-invasive-hidden-ecological-threat.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:39:03 EST news628958341 Engineers from EPFL and partner organizations have developed a method for classifying lacustrine deltas based on morphological parameters, in order to determine which of the deltas severely altered by human activity are best suited for restoration to their natural state. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-lake-deltas.html Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:23:55 EST news628957433 Autophagy is a self-eating process for recycling and rejuvenating cellular organelles and components. Intracellular calcium dynamics has been shown to be essential for the initiation of the autophagy process. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-relationship-mitochondrial-calcium-dynamics-autophagy.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:21:03 EST news628957261 For years, controversy has swirled around how a Cretaceous-era, sail-backed dinosaur—the giant Spinosaurus aegyptiacus—hunted its prey. Spinosaurus was among the largest predators ever to prowl the Earth and one of the most adapted to water, but was it an aquatic denizen of the seas, diving deep to chase down its meals, or a semiaquatic wader that snatched prey from the shallows close to shore? https://phys.org/news/2024-03-analysis-uncovers-major-issues-earlier.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:00:01 EST news628942673 Greg Rouse, a marine biologist at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and other researchers have discovered a new species of deep-sea worm living near a methane seep some 50 kilometers (30 miles) off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Rouse, curator of the Scripps Benthic Invertebrate Collection, co-authored a study describing the new species in the journal PLOS ONE. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-deep-sea-worm-methane-seep.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:00:01 EST news628942718 New research finds around a quarter of Labrador retriever dogs face a double-whammy of feeling hungry all the time and burning fewer calories due to a genetic mutation. The results are published in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-genetic-mutation-quarter-labradors-hard.html Molecular & Computational biology Veterinary medicine Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:00:01 EST news628942750 A computational model of the more than 26 million atoms in a DNA-packed viral capsid expands our understanding of virus structure and DNA dynamics, insights that could provide new research avenues and drug targets, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-atom-packaged-viral-genome-reveals.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 13:17:03 EST news628953421 Whereas humans have one receptor on their tongues that can detect all sorts of sweet things, from real sugar to artificial sweeteners like aspartame, insects have many receptors that each detect specific types of sugars. Yale researchers have now uncovered one way insect receptors are able to be so selective, an insight they say will help us understand how animals decipher the chemical world and how we might mimic that ability in the future. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-insects-sugars.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 13:13:03 EST news628953181 University of Queensland research has revealed that protecting smaller but more strategic parcels of land will result in better and more cost-effective biodiversity conservation outcomes globally. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-smarter-biodiversity.html Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 13:00:02 EST news628951384 The corn leafhopper Dalbulus maidis has become a serious problem for farmers. This tiny insect is now widely distributed in the Americas, from the south of the United States to the north of Argentina. In Brazil, it uses only corn plants as hosts, and little is known about its survival mechanisms in the absence of these plants. In corn, it causes damage directly by sucking sap from the phloem, the vascular tissue that conducts sugar and other metabolic products downward from the leaves. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-fungus-corn-leafhopper-extremely-pest.html Ecology Agriculture Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:42:04 EST news628951321 Stem cells are the body's wellspring of renewal. They can turn into any kind of cell the body needs, from liver to skin to bone. But the well would run dry if all the stem cells transformed. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-exploring-stem-cells-message.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:29:37 EST news628950550 Researchers from the Bhogaraju Group at EMBL Grenoble have gained new insights into how a cancer-relevant family of proteins bind their targets. The results of the study, published in The EMBO Journal, could potentially help in the development of drugs against certain chemotherapy- and radiotherapy-resistant cancers. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-relationships-cancer-proteins.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:28:31 EST news628950509 April in the Florida Panhandle. It was hot, humid, and a thunderstorm was lurking. But as a fresh graduate student, I was relieved for the escape from my first brutal Minnesota winter. I was accompanying my adviser, Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido, on a project that would end up dominating my Ph.D. work. Out in the scrubland, my eyes darted at every movement, on the alert for an insect that likes shiny beads. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-robber-flies-track-beetle-prey.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:50:01 EST news628945905 Early experiences in an animal's life can have a significant impact on its capacity to thrive, even years or decades later, and DNA methylation may help record their effects. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-early-life-adversity-term-signatures.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:44:04 EST news628947842 Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, within the Department of Theoretical Biology, characterized a recently discovered dynamical regime of microbial communities and used it to explain empirical patterns of marine plankton. There, strong and diverse interactions, combined with weak dispersal, fuel a continuous turnover of the small set of very abundant species, such that success is ephemeral and every species is equivalent in alternating between rarity and dominance. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-insights-dynamics-microbial-communities.html Ecology Cell & Microbiology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:31:02 EST news628947061 Global change is altering the physiology of the hibernation and behavior of bats, according to a study led by the University of Barcelona, carried out over 20 years. Given the milder winters in Spain, bats are accumulating less fat reserves in autumn, they shorten their hibernation periods and they leave their winter shelter sooner. These changes could alter the migration pattern of bats and the phenology of their seasonal displacements. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-global-affecting-hibernation.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:28:04 EST news628946881 Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum explain how it is possible for the small brains of pigeons, parrots and corvids to perform equally well as those of mammals, despite their significant differences. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-birds-smart.html Plants & Animals Evolution Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:26:03 EST news628946761 An international team of wildlife researchers has found that the giant tortoises living on the Galápagos islands may be in danger of losing a major food resource due to the encroachment of invasive Cedrela odorata trees. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-galpagos-giant-tortoises-danger-due.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:20:01 EST news628946004 Scientists have discovered the gene that enables marine algae to make a unique type of chlorophyll. They successfully implanted this gene in a land plant, paving the way for better crop yields on less land. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-marine-algae-implants-boost-crop.html Biotechnology Agriculture Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:17:18 EST news628946232 Originally discovered in extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents, archaea, a single-celled microorganism, can also be found in the digestive systems of animals, including humans in which they play a key role in gut health. Yet, little is known about the function of these cells or how they form the distinct shapes they assume to match their environments. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-archaea-proteins-cell-function.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:09:04 EST news628945741 In a groundbreaking discovery, bumblebees have been shown to possess a previously unseen level of cognitive sophistication. A new study, published in Nature, reveals that these fuzzy pollinators can learn complex, multi-step tasks through social interaction, even if they cannot figure them out on their own. This challenges the long-held belief that such advanced social learning is unique to humans, and even hints at the presence of key elements of cumulative culture in these insects. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-bumblebees-scientists-advanced-social-skills.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628942848 It would be a game-changer if all members of a basketball team could see out of each other's eyes in addition to their own. A research duo at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute has found evidence that this kind of collective sensing occurs in close-knit groups of African weakly electric fish, also known as elephantnose fish. This instantaneous sharing of sensory intelligence could help the fish locate food, friends and foes. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-scientists-uncover-evidence-electric-elephantnose.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628942854 "Random DNA" is naturally active in the one-celled fungi yeast, while such DNA is turned off as its natural state in mammalian cells, despite their having a common ancestor a billion years ago and the same basic molecular machinery, a new study finds. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-synthetic-dna-mysterious-difference-cells.html Evolution Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628942902 One of the fundamental goals of basic biology is understanding how diverse cell types work in concert to form tissues, organs, and organ systems. Recent efforts to catalog the different cell types in every tissue in our bodies are a step in the right direction, but only one piece of the puzzle. The great mystery of how those cells communicate with one another remains unsolved. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-universal-tool-tracking-cell-interactions.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628942911