Bacteria are a globally sustainable source of fixed nitrogen, which is essential for life and crucial for modern agriculture. Many nitrogen-fixing bacteria are agriculturally important, including ...

A crystal structure of the enzyme taxadiene synthase confirms a theoretically predicted link between two enzyme classes in the evolution of some biomolecules that biosynthesize terpenes (Nature, DOI: ...

We sat down with Biosphere Sciences and Engineering's Brittany Belin, whose lab studies the biology of rhizobia, soil bacteria that can convert atmospheric nitrogen gas into plant-fertilizing ammonia.

Illustration of ‘Protosterol Biota’ on the ancient ocean floor. Researchers have discovered ancient microorganisms that lived from 1.6 to 1 billion years ago. The organisms likely lived in marine ...

Molecular fossils found in ancient sedimentary rocks have unveiled a lost world of primitive eukaryotes that dominated aquatic ecosystems from at least 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. The ...

Habitats defined as “extremes” exist across the entire planet. They can be widely different in their physico-chemical features as they include a diverse array of harsh parameters thought to preclude ...

Membrane organization plays an important role in signaling, transport, and defense. In eukaryotes, the stability, organization, and function of membrane proteins are influenced by certain lipids and ...

Signs of red wine, millet beer and possibly the fermented honey drink, mead, have all been found in pottery vessels from the early Celts living in France around 500 BC. The finds come from a study of ...

Hopanes were discovered by petroleum geologists as ubiquitous molecular fossils in ancient sedimentary rocks. Later, bacterial hopanoids were identified as their progenitors. Today, phylogenetically ...

Hopanoids are pentacyclic triterpenoid lipids synthesized by different bacterial groups. Methylated hopanoids were believed to be exclusively synthesized by cyanobacteria and aerobic methanotrophs ...