Baculoviruses are tiny, helpful viruses that scientists use in many ways. They help make proteins, create vaccines, and even act as natural pesticides. These viruses need host cells to grow and multiply. The health of these host cells is super important for the viruses to do their job well. But what happens when these host cells get stressed out? That's what some res...
Dalbergia odorifera, a plant known for its valuable wood, faces tough challenges when temperatures drop. To understand how it copes, scientists put its seedlings through a cold test. They exposed the young plants to low temperatures for a short period. This wasn't just a simple experiment. It was a deep dive into the plant's genetic makeup. The researchers didn't st...
Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans is a unique type of bacteria. It thrives in environments that are extremely acidic and inhospitable to most other life forms. This bacteria is part of a group that helps break down sulfide ores, a process known as bioleaching. It has a clever way of coping with stress. It uses a network of proteins called holdases. These holdases help t...
Scientists have been diving deep into how fish handle stress. They are looking at Nile tilapia, a type of fish that is easy to find. These fish are put in tanks and observed closely. One big clue about stress in fish is the amount of sugar in their blood. To track this, researchers used a tiny, wireless sensor. This sensor is placed in the fish's eye, where it can me...
Heat waves are becoming more common. These high temperatures are a big problem for crops. They can really mess up how plants grow and develop. This is a huge issue for farmers all over the world. Plants have tiny helpers called microRNAs. These microRNAs play a big role in how plants grow and react to stress. One of these helpers is called miR164a. It is found in tom...
Ever wondered how yeast cells handle stress? When their internal factory, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), gets overwhelmed, these tiny powerhouses produce a protein called Hac1. This protein is like a manager that kicks off the unfolded protein response (UPR), helping the cell cope with the stress. Now, picture this: what if scientists could flip a switch to control...
In November 2024, Rutgers University-New Brunswick hosted the fall meeting of the Theobald Smith Society. Eighty-six members from New Jersey attended, including students, teachers, and professionals from government and industry. This event showcased the wide range of research done by members of the American Society for Microbiology. Let's dive into some of the key th...
Imagine taking a trip back in time to see how plants adapted to life on land. One key player in this story is the NAC transcription factor. NAC genes are like the conductors of an orchestra, directing how plants grow, develop, and respond to stress. We looked at plants from green algae to today's crops to understand how these genes evolved. Green algae had a few NAC...
Handling stress is a big deal in fish farming. Zebrafish, a common fish in labs and farms, hasn't been studied enough for their stress response when they're young. Scientists wanted to see how zebrafish larvae react to a sudden stress situation. They spun the tiny fish in a vortex for a minute and checked their behavior and body changes after 10 minutes, 1 hour, and ...
Ever wondered how snails deal with stress? In the underwater world, these tiny creatures face multiple challenges at once. We tested how an aquatic snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, reacted to different stressors like acidic water, toxic acetone, and fellow snail chemical signals. Surprisingly, snails took the longest to move in acidic water and when exposed to both a...