Did organs precede organisms in the origin of life?

Evolutionary processes acting on populations of organized molecules preceded the origin of living organisms. These prebiotic entities were independently and repeatedly produced [i.e.

Penitentiaries: Bringing microbiological literacy to the fringes of society.

This report highlights a science outreach effort for prisons launched by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in collaboration with the NGO Solidarios para el Desarrollo. The Microbiology-focused part of the initiative aims at educating inmates on some basic facts, in order to raise awareness about microorganisms and their impact on daily life. The outline of the talks, inspired by the International Initiative for Microbial Literacy, aims to encourage this collective to move from passive listeners into active participants, helping them understand that Earth is a microbial planet, and that their bodies harbour vast microbiomes that affect their health and social interactions.

Pavlovian-Type Learning in Environmental Bacteria: Regulation of Herbicide Resistance by Arsenic in Pseudomonas putida.

The canonical arsRBC genes of the ars1 operon in Pseudomonas putida KT2440, which confer tolerance to arsenate and arsenite, are followed by a series of additional ORFs culminating in phoN1. The phoN1 gene encodes an acetyltransferase that imparts resistance to the glutamine synthetase inhibitor herbicide phosphinothricin (PPT). The co-expression of phoN1 and ars genes in response to environmental arsenic, along with the physiological effects, was analysed through transcriptomics of cells exposed to the oxyanion and phenotypic characterization of P.

AND Logic Based on Suppressor tRNAs Enables Stringent Control of Sliding Base Editors in .

Base editors, e.g., cytosine deaminases, are powerful tools for precise DNA editing , enabling both targeted nucleotide conversions and segment-specific diversification of bacterial genomes.