microbes
Study weighs deep-sea mining’s impact on microbes
The essential roles that microbes play in deep-sea ecosystems are at risk from the potential environmental impacts of mining.
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How to Make it Easier to Turn Plant Waste into Biofuels
Researchers have developed a new process that could make it much cheaper to produce biofuels such as ethanol from plant waste and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Their approach, featuring an ammonia-salt based solvent that rapidly turns plant fibers into sugars needed to make ethanol, works well at close to room temperature, unlike conventional processes, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Green Chemistry.
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Simplifying Microbial Consortia Opens a Path to Understanding Soil Community Ecology
New research demonstrates that microbial communities that are simplified but still representative may offer a way to explore more complex ones. In particular, they can help scientists uncover the mechanisms that drive the ecology of groups of soil microbes.
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Droughts Spell Changes for Soil Microbes
Scientists predict a warming Earth will cause more droughts that are more severe in the grasslands of the central United States. This research found that soil drying affects the microbial community in several ways.
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Predicting How Microbial Neighbors Influence Each Other
Researchers developed a new theoretical framework called minimal interspecies interaction adjustment (MIIA). It predicts how surrounding organisms and other factors drive changes in interactions in microbial communities.
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Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes
Microbial communities inside whales may play an important role in the digestion of one of the ocean’s most abundant carbon-rich lipids, known as a wax ester.
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Rogers examines the effects of ancient microbes in new book
The idea of freezing a life in ice and thawing it out years, even centuries, later has been used extensively in novels, movies and comics. According to BGSU biology professor Scott Rogers in his new book this concept may be more fact than fiction, and the outcomes of this are just as worrying as they are exciting.
Read moreDecoding plant chatter could lead to stronger crops
Researchers will use a $2.25 federal grant to study how cells communicate within plants, and between plants and pathogens, to develop crops that are resilient to disease and other stresses. The work also could play a role in reengineering plants and microbes to improve biofuel production.
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Unlocking the Biochemical Treasure Chest Within Microbes
An international team of scientists lead by the Joint Genome Institute has developed a genetic engineering tool that makes producing and analyzing microbial secondary metabolites – the basis for many important agricultural, industrial, and medical products – much easier than before, and could even lead to breakthroughs in biomanufacturing.
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Microbes are Metabolic Specialists
Scientists can use genetic information to measure if microbes in the environment can perform specific ecological roles. Researchers recently analyzed the genomes of over 6,000 microbial species.
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Pivot Bio Joins the International Phytobiomes Allianc
Pivot Bio has joined the International Phytobiomes Alliance as a sponsoring partner, both organizations announced today.
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