News by Subject Biology

State-of-the-art video microscopy has enabled Australian researchers to see the molecular details of how malaria parasites invade red blood cells - a key step in the disease.

Honeybees bring back more than just nectar from their floral feasts and these microbes may help them survive turbulent times.

The team studied blood samples from children from two ethnic groups in remote rural areas of Burkina Faso, Gouin and Fulani, to see how they responded to the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The team discovered an elevation of immune-dampening steroid molecules and a strong immunosuppressive signature in Gouin children. Studying the enigmatic less malaria-susceptible Fulani ethnic group revealed opposing steroid profiles and stronger immune reactivity to infection.

New research focused on interactions among microbes in water suggests fungal microparasites play a bigger than expected role in aquatic food webs and the global carbon cycle.

The malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax may accumulate in the spleen soon after infection to a greater extent than its better-known relative P. falciparum, according to new research published by John Woodford of the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and colleagues in the open access journal PLOS Medicine.

Detailed and extensive genome sequencing of a subspecies of rat-infecting malaria parasites should instruct human malaria research.

In collaboration with Kanazawa University, researchers from Osaka City University used high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) to visualize at the nanometer level the movement of individual particles within the parasitic bacterium Mycoplasma mobile. After confirming the outline on the surface of the cell structure in an immobilized state with previous data gathered from electron microscopy, the team succeeded in visualizing the real-time movements of the internal structure by scanning the outside of the cell with HS-AFM.