Decomposers are crucial for keeping Earth habitable, breaking down dead biomass and returning key nutrients, such as carbon, ...

New research shows that a large, ubiquitous mobile genetic element changes the antagonistic weaponry of Bacteroides fragilis, a common bacterium of the human gut. Bacteria evolve rapidly in the human ...

Scientists explored the evolutionary success of leaf beetles, the most diverse herbivores on Earth. They showed that symbioses with bacteria have evolved repeatedly and independently in different ...

When bacteria swap DNA, the consequences can ripple across ecosystems and hospitals alike, fueling the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Now, researchers at Imperial College London have ...

Bacteria contain a wide variety of mechanisms to fend off invaders like viruses. One of these strategies involves cleaving transfer ribonucleic acids (tRNA), which are present in all cells and play a ...