ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News

A new study has identified specialized immune cells in the cauliflower coral and starlet sea anemone that can help fight infection. The findings are important to better understand how reef-building corals and other reef animals protect themselves from foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses found in and around coral reefs.

Blue light is illuminating new understanding of a key signaling pathway in embryo development, tissue maintenance and cancer genesis. Researchers have developed an approach using blue light to activate the Wnt signaling pathway in frog embryos. The pathway plays a wide variety of roles in animal and human development, and the ability to regulate it with light will allow researchers to better study its assorted functions, the team says.

Scientists have developed a bioprocess using engineered yeast that completely and efficiently converted plant matter consisting of acetate and xylose into high-value bioproducts.

Ecologists show that 1,330 nurseries, garden centers and online retailers are still offering hundreds of invasive plant species as ornamental garden plants. This includes 20 species that are illegal to grow or sell nationwide.

Recent research has found that changes in the gut microbiota -- the trillions of bacteria and other microbes that live in the intestines -- can alter the brain and behavior. A new study could elucidate how and why that phenomenon occurs.

Time-restricted eating (TRE), a dietary regimen that restricts eating to specific hours, has garnered increased attention in weight-loss circles. A new study further shows that TRE confers multiple health benefits besides weight loss. The study also shows that these benefits may depend on sex and age.

If you're a male chimp looking for love -- or offspring -- it pays to make friends with other males. A study examined why male chimpanzees form close relationships with each other, and found that male chimpanzees that build strong bonds with the alpha male of the group, or with a large network of other males, are more successful at siring offspring.

Researchers have, with the help of cryogenic electron microscopy, succeeded in producing a high-resolution image of photosystem II - the central complex of photosynthesis - of the model plant Arabidopsis. The enormous complex is responsible for the vital oxygen production in photosynthesis that once made life possible on our planet.

Scientists studying SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have defined in Syrian hamsters how different routes of virus exposure are linked to disease severity. Their study details the efficiency of airborne transmission between hamsters and examines how the virus replicates and causes disease throughout the respiratory system.

While gut microbiota play a critical role in the induction of adaptive immune responses to influenza virus infection, the role of nasal bacteria in the induction of virus-specific adaptive immunity is less clear. New research explores the role of nasal bacteria and provides clues to developing better intranasal vaccines for flu and COVID-19.

Researchers have published a three way comparison study to confirm that the Reverse Transcriptase Free Exponential Amplification Reaction (RTF-EXPAR) method is just as sensitive, but faster, than both PCR and LAMP tests. The study revealed that the RTF-EXPAR method converts under 10 strands of RNA into billions of copies of DNA in under 10 minutes, using a one-pot assay that is compatible with more basic, benchtop equipment than that used with current testing methods.

New research pinpoints genomic regions associated with metabolic or non-target-site herbicide resistance in waterhemp, a problematic agricultural weed. Non-target-site resistance has long been considered a black box, but the complete waterhemp genome allows for a more precise understanding of the detoxifying mechanism's genetic architecture.

Some proteins in cells can separate into small droplets like oil droplets in water, but faults in this process may underlie neurodegenerative diseases in the brains of older people. Now, researchers have developed a new method to quantify protein droplets involved in these diseases.