Microbiology

An annotated list of 219 pathogens that infect plants in Brazil, including many agriculturally important species, shows just how precarious things can be when it comes to maintaining an affordable,…

We eat various foods and our metabolism converts it to energy our bodies can use. This is a hallmark of life, across plants, animals, algae and bacteria. Energy is a defining characteristic of living…

Biologists have mapped the genome of phylloxera, an aphid-like pest capable of decimating vineyards. In so doing, they have identified nearly 3,000 genes enabling the insect to colonize and feed on…

Environmental groups believe that living in cities is better for the environment but if there is one thing that COVID-19 has made clear, it's that living in cities is better for spreading infectious…

Most public restrooms are grungy in the best of times. Now, we have the coronavirus risk to contend with, too. There are lots of risks – dirty sinks and door handles, airborne particles and other…

Though coronavirus is a new name for much of the world, microbiologists have worried about it for half a century. It is in the same family as the common cold virus but with the right mutation it can…

Though coronavirus is known to much of the world by now, it is often used synonymously with COVID-19 by journalists. In scientific reality, there are a vast number of types of different coronaviruses…

The early "evolutionary paths" SARS-CoV-2, the 2019 coronavirus that leads to COVID-19 in humans have been traced using phylogenetic network techniques and shows how it spread from Wuhan to Europe…

Political critics can argue that the U.S. response (travel restrictions) to the coronavirus outbreak which began in Wuhan, China and rapidly spread was too harsh, but data show it was probably a…

Though they are called giant viruses they're still among the tiniest denizens of the microbiome. A few genes' worth of DNA or RNA folded into a shell so small you need an electron microscope to see…