By simulating the life cycle of a minimal bacterial cell — from DNA replication to protein translation to metabolism and cell division — scientists have opened a new frontier of […]
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
New Insight Into Chloroplast Evolution
One of the most momentous events in the history of life involved endosymbiosis — a process by which one organism engulfed another and, instead of ingesting it, incorporated its DNA […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Webb Detects The Universe’s Most Distant Complex Organic Molecules
Researchers have detected complex organic molecules in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years away from Earth – the most distant galaxy in which these molecules are now known to […]
Posted inMars
Filamentous Microbes May Be Most Obvious Sign Of Life On Mars
A rover scanning the surface of Mars for evidence of life might want to check for rocks that look like pasta, researchers report in the journal Astrobiology. The bacterium that […]
Posted inMicrobiology & Virology, Press Release
Study of Archaeal Cells Could Teach Us More About Ourselves
Forty-two years after Carl Woese defined archaea as the third domain of life, scientists at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the University of Illinois at […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release
Viruses Share Genes With Organisms Across The Tree of Life
A new study finds that viruses share some genes exclusively with cells that are not their hosts. The study, reported in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, adds to the evidence […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors
A Real Tricorder
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed technology that enables a smartphone to perform lab-grade medical diagnostic tests that typically require large, expensive instruments. Costing only $550, […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release
Evidence that Viruses are Alive
Their diversity makes viruses difficult to classify. A new study uses protein folds as evidence that viruses are living entities that belong on their own branch of the tree of […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Oil- and metal-munching microbes dominate deep sandstone formations
Halomonas are a hardy breed of bacteria. They can withstand heat, high salinity, low oxygen, utter darkness and pressures that would kill most other organisms. These traits enable these microbes […]