Phototaxis and photophobic responses of green algae are mediated by rhodopsins with microbial-type chromophores. We report a complementary DNA sequence in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtiithat ...

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All plants studied in natural ecosystems are symbiotic with fungi (1), which obtain nutrients while either positively, negatively, or neutrally affecting host fitness (2). Plant adaptation to selectiv...

Soil bacteria colonize plants without causing visible disease, yet many suppress host growth. The prevalence and evolutionary reach of this cryptic inhibition are unknown, because phenotyping hundreds...

Drought conditions in soil systems lead to elevated concentrations of natural antibiotics, as well as the enrichment of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, highlighting a link between climate and the...

Taillefer et al. show that a bacterial type VI secretion system is lost or attenuated during experimental evolution when it provides no competitive advantage but is maintained in the presence of susceptible competitors. T6SS inactivation arises through diverse regulatory and structural mutations, revealing how ecological context shapes antibacterial weapon evolution.

Small molecules produced by TIR (Toll-interleukin-1 receptor) domains are essential for plant immune signaling. A central TIR-derived signal is 2ʹcADPR, a cyclic ADP-ribose (ADPR) molecule that is gen...

Author summary Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium that can cause severe invasive infections. S. aureus produces many toxins during infection, of which α-toxin (AT) is clinically relevant. AT is a po...

Welcome to NASA's Eyes, a way for you to learn about your home planet, our solar system, the universe beyond and the spacecraft exploring them.

A colibactin-producing symbiont in honeybee guts defends against opportunistic pathogens and confers protection.

Phages often degrade the genome of their bacterial host to individual nucleotides. Here we describe Metis, a bacterial defense system that directly senses phage-mediated host genome degradation. Metis...