Biology News

Mysterious I-Motif Structures are Common in Human Genomic DNA, Study Finds

Peña Martinez et al. observed a total of 53,000 i-motifs among three human cells lines: MCF7, U2OS, HEK293T. Image credit: Peña Martinez et al., doi: 10.1038/s44318-024-00210-5.
Sep 3, 2024 by News Staff

The so-called i-motifs are knot-like DNA structures formed in the nuclei of human cells and believed to provide critical genomic regulation. In new research, scientists from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and elswhere used immunoprecipitation and next-generation sequencing to identify i-motif structures in human DNA. Peña Martinez et al. observed a total of 53,000 i-motifs among three human cells lines: MCF7, U2OS, HEK293T. Image credit:...

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Humans, dolphins, elephants, and marmoset monkeys are the only known species that vocally label their conspecifics. Image credit: Oren et al., doi: 10.1126/science.adp3757.

Marmoset Monkeys Use Names to Communicate with Each Other

Sep 2, 2024 by News Staff

Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have recorded spontaneous ‘phee-call’ dialogues between pairs of marmoset monkeys. They’ve found...

The T091-5 strain of the genus Rhodococcus. Image credit: Pylkkö et al., doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1432475.

Scientists Find Two Potential Antibiotics in Marine Bacteria from Arctic Sea

Aug 30, 2024 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Finland and Norway has identified two potential antivirulence compounds for enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) infections...

While circumnutations are ubiquitous in plant systems, and generally associated with exploratory movements, a quantitative understanding of their role is elusive. Nguyen et al. report, for the first time, their role in facilitating an optimal growth pattern for a crowded group of mutually shading plants. Image credit: Manuel H.

Study: Crowded Groups of Mutually Shading Plants ‘Dance’ Together to Share Sunlight

Aug 28, 2024 by News Staff

Typically, plants grow in crowded environments, where neighboring plants shade each other while competing for light. The presence of neighbors varies over...

A nucleosome composed of DNA (gray) and histones (blue) with a single hemimethylated cytosine bound by CDCA7 (purple). Image credit: Kyohei Arita / Yiming Niu.

Scientists Discover New Sensor for DNA Methylation

Aug 28, 2024 by News Staff

DNA methylation is a broadly observed epigenetic modification in living systems, playing diverse functions in transcriptional regulation, transposable...

Artistic reconstruction of Beorn leggi (top) and Aerobius dactylus (bottom) in a hypothetical fossilization environment. Image credit: Franz Anthony.

Cretaceous Amber Fossils Shed New Light on Evolutionary Origin of Tardigrades

Aug 23, 2024 by News Staff

Tardigrades are a diverse group of microscopic invertebrates widely known for their extreme survival capabilities. Molecular clocks suggest that tardigrades...

Several animal species use tools for foraging; however, very few manufacture and/or modify those tools. Humpback whales, which manufacture bubble-net tools while foraging, are among these rare species. Using animal-borne tag and unoccupied aerial system technologies, Szabo et al. examine bubble-nets manufactured by solitary humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Southeast Alaska while feeding on krill. They demonstrate that the nets consist of internally tangential rings and suggest that whales actively control the number of rings in a net, net size and depth and the horizontal spacing between neighboring bubbles. They argue that whales regulate these net structural elements to increase per-lunge prey intake by, on average, sevenfold. Image credit: Szabo et al., doi: 10.1098/rsos.240328.

Humpback Whales Wield and Manufacture Their Own Tools

Aug 21, 2024 by News Staff

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) create the so-called ‘bubble-net tools’ to hunt, but researchers from the University of Hawai’i and the...

Hare Indian dog, lithograph by John Woodhouse Audubon.

Ancient mtDNA Reveals Presence of Indigenous Dogs at Jamestown Colony in Early 17th Century

Aug 20, 2024 by News Staff

Multiple studies have demonstrated that European colonization of the Americas led to the extinction of nearly all North American dog mitochondrial lineages...

Gaidropsarus mauritanicus seeking shelter under the branched, whitish bryozoan Celleporina cf. lucida. Image credit: Tomas Lundälv, University of Gothenburg.

Marine Biologists Discover New Species of Fish in Mauritanian Waters

Aug 20, 2024 by Natali Anderson

A new species of three-bearded rockling has been described from one specimen collected using a grab sample from the Tanoûdêrt Canyon off Mauritania at...

The Andean storm-petrel (Oceanites barrosi). Image credit: Norambuena et al., doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5486.4.1.

Ornithologists Discover New Species of Storm Petrel

Aug 12, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of ornithologists has described a cryptic new species of the bird genus Oceanites from Chile. The Andean storm-petrel (Oceanites...

Iglesias et al. showed that microwaves harbor a specialized community of locally adapted microbial genera, which resembles that reported on kitchen surfaces and in another extreme, highly irradiated habitat: on solar panels.

Biologists Find Diverse Bacterial Communities in Microwave Ovens

Aug 8, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Microwaves have become an essential part of the modern kitchen, but their potential as a reservoir for bacterial colonization and the microbial composition...

Electron microscopy showing Candidatus Nanohaloarchaeum antarcticus attached to its host, Halorubrum lacusprofundi. Image credit: Joshua N. Hamm.

Antarctic Archaea Can Behave Like Parasites, Microbiologists Find

Aug 7, 2024 by News Staff

New research shows that Candidatus Nanohaloarchaeum antarcticus, a DPANN archaeon from an Antarctic hypersaline lake called Deep Lake, behaves like a parasitic...

The early ape Proconsul, center, and the primate Dendropithecus, upper right, inhabited a warm and relatively wet, closed canopy tropical seasonal forest 18 million years ago in equatorial eastern Africa – on Rusinga Island, Kenya. Image credit: Jason Brougham.

Earliest Primates Gave Birth to Twins, New Research Suggests

Jul 31, 2024 by News Staff

Twinning has been around longer than we thought, according to new research led by Western Washington University. Jack H. McBride & Tesla A. Monson...

Goldberg et al. suggest that a broad diversity of mammal species have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in the wild. Image credit: Goldberg et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49891-w.

SARS-CoV-2 Virus is Widespread among Wildlife Species, Study Shows

Jul 29, 2024 by News Staff

In new research, a team of scientists from Virginia Tech examined how widespread exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),...

This is an artist's impression of the Upland Moa, Megalapteryx didinus, by George Edward Lodge, 1907.

Extinct Moa’s Refugia Continue to Serve as Sanctuaries for New Zealand’s Remaining Flightless Birds

Jul 25, 2024 by News Staff

Human settlement of islands across the Pacific Ocean was followed by waves of faunal extinctions that occurred so rapidly that their dynamics are difficult...

Pigmented cutting edges in Komodo dragon teeth. Image credit: LeBlanc et al., doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02477-7.

Komodo Dragons Have Iron-Coated Teeth, New Study Reveals

Jul 24, 2024 by News Staff

Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis) are the largest living predatory lizards and their serrated, curved and blade-shaped teeth make them valuable analogues...

The zebra snake (Naja nigricincta) in Namibia. Image credit: Wolfgang Wüster.

Scientists Discover New Antidote for Cobra Bites: Heparin

Jul 19, 2024 by News Staff

Snakebites affect about 1.8 million people annually. The current standard of care involves antibody-based antivenoms, which can be difficult to access...

The Amazon weasel (Neogale africana): diagnostic sharp, dark-brown stripe down midline from throat to belly. Image credit: Bernal-Hoverud et al., doi: 10.15560/20.3.828.

Extremely Rare Amazon Weasel Captured on Video in Bolivia

Jul 17, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Bolivian coffee producers have filmed the Amazon weasel (Neogale africana) near their shade-grown plots as part of a citizen science monitoring program. The...

Amoebidium appalachense is a unique model to understand the hybrid origins of eukaryotic DNA. Image credit: Alex de Mendoza.

Biologists Find Ancient Giant Virus Insertions in Genome of Unicellular Parasite

Jul 16, 2024 by News Staff

Amoebidium appalachense, a protist closely related to animals, harbors the remnants of ancient giant viruses woven into its own genetic code, according...

Probabilistic estimates of metabolic networks from modern life that were present in LUCA. Image credit: Moody et al., doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02461-1.

Last Universal Common Ancestor Lived 4.2 Billion Years Ago: Study

Jul 12, 2024 by News Staff

The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the hypothesized common ancestor from which all modern cellular life, from single celled organisms like bacteria...

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