Researchers have shown that stress and retrovirus levels are tightly linked to disease in koalas. High KoRV loads make koalas more vulnerable to chlamydia, worsening epidemics in stressed populations. Protecting habitats, careful breeding, and antiviral trials are now being pursued to give koalas a fighting chance at survival.
Read moreMetabolism does more than fuel embryos—it sets their developmental rhythm. EMBL researchers found that a sugar molecule, FBP, controls the pace of spine formation, suggesting metabolism may act as a biological pacemaker.
Read moreScientists at the University of Geneva have created the first detailed catalogue of gut bacteria at the subspecies level, unlocking powerful new ways to detect colorectal cancer. By applying machine learning to stool samples, they achieved a 90% detection rate—nearly matching colonoscopies, but with far less cost and discomfort. This breakthrough could revolutionize early cancer screening, helping catch the disease before it advances.
Read moreResearchers report the discovery of a protein, P17/PERMIT, that is key to recycling aging and damaged mitochondria. Defective mitochondria are characteristic of a number of age-related diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer's. The MUSC team showed P17/PERMIT transports the machinery that produces ceramide, a molecule that signals old mitochondria for destruction, to the mitochondria. There, it can mass-produce ceramide at the location needed for mitochondrial regulation.
Read moreTadpoles that can typically regrow amputated tails or limbs lost their ability to regenerate after researchers blocked the expression of a newly identified gene that is one of the drivers for this regrowth. Furthermore, scientists hypothesize that the loss of appendage regeneration in warm-blooded animals might have been caused by the gain or loss of this gene, dubbed c-Answer, in an ancestor's genome during evolution.
Read moreA study in humans and mice demonstrated that a fetus has its own microbiome, or communities of bacteria living in the gut, which are known to play important roles in the immune system and metabolism. Researchers also confirmed that the fetal microbiome is transmitted from the mother.
Read moreIt is already known that zebrafish can flexibly regenerate their hearts after injury. An international research group now shows that certain heart muscle cells play a central role in this process. The insights gained could be used to initiate a similar repair process in the human heart.
Read moreTissue patterning is an important process during embryo formation, which ensures that groups of cells are arranged in an appropriate manner that allows them to function properly.
Read moreNeural crest cells have been thought to originate in the ectoderm, the outermost of the three germ layers formed in the earliest stages of embryonic development. But their capacity to form derivatives like bone and tooth-forming cells defies fundamental concepts in developmental and stem cell biology. A research team has found a solution to this mystery by demonstrating an earlier origin of the neural crest in chick embryos.
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Bacterial cell division is controlled by both enzymatic activity and mechanical forces, which work together to control its timing and location.