#Microbes are in a constant battle for survival! Researchers from @LeibnizHKI @unijena @microverse_exc @unibayreuth discovered how the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae uses a chemical radar to detect and eliminate predatory #amoebae .The #bacteria produce harmless molecules that the amoebae modify, revealing their presence. P. syringae detects this and produces toxic substances to eliminate the predator. This mechanism could inspire new drugs and pest control strategies! 
@dfg_public #EFRE
This #amoeba eats prey like #owls do https://www.sciencenews.org/article/amoeba-eats-removes-shell
The vampyrellid amoeba #Strigomyxa ruptor gen. et sp. nov. and its remarkable strategy to acquire algal cell contents https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.70191
"The microscopic predator engulfs #algae, drains the cells and spits out the shell"
It's time to consider the Arcellinida shell as a weapon https://www.isep-protists.com/post/arcellinida-shell-weapon
"why is there such a large morphological diversity in shell-bearing #amoebae and what is the function of shells anyway? We knew for a long time that #Arcellinida are masters of the #cytoskeleton as they use it to build their elaborate shells. It was unknown that they use both, the cytoskeleton and shell, in combination to function as small apex #predators in their systems."
Bacteria & Fungi Come Together in Endosymbiosis Study https://www.labroots.com/trending/cell-and-molecular-biology/27876/bacteria-fungi-endosymbiosis-study
Inducing novel #endosymbioses by implanting bacteria in fungi https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08010-x
"After several generations, the health of the #fungi began to improve. They were changing and adapting to their new resident #bacteria. The bacteria also changed. Both bacterial and fungal cells were found to produce molecules that helped the fungi collect nutrients and battle predators like #amoebae or #nematodes."
4-Oct-2024
Life on Earth was more diverse than classical theory suggests 800 million years ago, a Brazilian study shows
According to an article published in the journal PNAS, different lineages of #amoebae and ancestors of #plants, #algae and animals were already established in the #Neoproterozoic period and survived the two glaciations that covered the entire planet.
Biologists study trade-offs of microscopic predators https://phys.org/news/2024-05-biologists-offs-microscopic-predators.html
Costs of being a diet generalist for the #protist predator #Dictyostelium discoideum https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2313203121
"The #amoebae prey on a very diverse group of #bacteria. But when they switch from one bacteria to another, there's a physiological cost."
How did #eukaryotes evolve for extreme temps? https://www.futurity.org/high-temp-eukaryotes-2972442-2/ #protists
#ExtremeEnvironments offer an unprecedented opportunity to understand #microbial #eukaryotic #ecology, #evolution, and #genome #biology: Hannah Rappaport & Angela Oliverio https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40657-4
“several lineages of #amoebae were often recovered from extremely high temperature environments. Studying those lineages may yield great insight into how eukaryotic cells can adapt to life in extremely hot environments.”
#Scientists unravel #symbiotic secrets of #prokaryotic community living in host #amoeba https://phys.org/news/2023-08-scientists-unravel-symbiotic-secrets-prokaryotic.html
#SciComm about new #ISEPpapers:
Hydrogenotrophic #methanogenesis is the key process in the obligately syntrophic consortium of the #anaerobic ameba #Pelomyxa schiedti https://www.nature.com/articles/s41396-023-01499-6 #protists #bacteria #microbes #symbiosis #amoebae #archaea #symbiosis #genomics
Here's the latest Research Highlight from Journal of Cell Science:
PIPkinA helps amoebas maintain social distancing
https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/136/14/e136_e1402/324870/PIPkinA-helps-amoebas-maintain-social-distancing
Do you find slime molds repulsive? It's ok, Dictyostelium discoideum cells can sometimes find their own neighbors pretty repulsive, too. Richard Gomer and colleagues show that PIPkinA is required for chemorepulsion in Dictyostelium away from AprA, which stimulates cell movement away from dense colony centers. #amoebae #SlimeMolds #CellBiology
"We show that a clonal population of soil amoebae invading a spatially structured bacterial matrix spontaneously differentiates into subpopulations with different types of movement. This strategy determines both the rates of bacteria consumption and the effectiveness of different bacterial antipredator defenses."
A throrough rewiew on #nucleariids (free-living heterotrophic #amoebae #protists #MicrobialEukaryotes).
It encompases available information on their morphology, life history, cell organisation, ecology, diversity, systematics and evolution.
"On the Biology, Diversity and Evolution of Nucleariid Amoebae (Amorphea, Obazoa, Opisthokonta"
by Toni Gabaldón, Eckhard Völcker and GuifréTorruella
#Yellow #pigment keeps #SocialAmoebae together https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/968378 #Protists #SlimeMolds #Polyketides #Pigments
Paper: Yellow #polyketide pigment suppresses premature #hatching in social amoeba https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2116122119
The #multicellular stage of the #amoeba #Dicyostelium discoideum is partially regulated by an intensely yellow natural substance. The newly identified natural product of the polyketide family prevents the #amoebae #spores from hatching too early.
In the Company of Bacteria: Amoebae https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2022/10/in-the-company-of-bacteria-amoebae.html #Biology #Microbiology #Microbes #SciComm
At least 35 bacterial species are known for non‑predatory interactions with #Acanthamoeba #protists. These #bacteria do not simply serve the #amoebae as food but have been found either as intracellular commensals, or as mutualists, or as #pathogens. Medical #microbiologists will spot some of the usual suspects in the list.
