Embargoed: Not for release until 14:00 U.S. Eastern Time (20:00 CEST) Friday, 22 May 2026:  Over the course of evolution, plants have developed an elegant strategy to counteract a lack of phosphate in the soil — they form symbiotic relationships with soil fungi. These mycorrhizal fungi efficiently supply their plant partners with phosphate and other essential minerals. Recently, scientists at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) in Halle, in collaboration with partners at the University of Bonn, discovered a molecular switch that detects the plant's phosphate content and signals whether to initiate or inhibit the symbiosis. This signaling pathway could enable plants to form partnerships with soil fungi even when sufficient phosphate is available. The study, published in the renowned journal Science Advances, offers a potential solution to a long-standing agricultural problem and opens new avenues for reducing fertilizer use. 

- A heart attack not only damages the cardiovascular system but can trigger toxic chain reaction linked to depression & anxiety - Identification of methylglyoxal (MG) molecule build up in certain parts of brain following heart attack can be linked to mood and cognition. - Research team has developed a peptide therapeutic that can trap MG to prevent it from damaging cells.

A research team at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI) in Jena has successfully biosynthesized a natural product containing a reactive chemical group. The furan moiety of the amino acid furylalanine enables the reversible attachment of fluorescent dyes to peptides such as antibiotics, for example. The study was recently published in the science journal Chem.

A new study reveals that many oral cancers are no longer driven by traditional risk factors like smoking or Human papillomavirus infection. Instead, they arise from internal DNA damage and possible microbial influences. By analyzing tumor mutation patterns, researchers identified a distinct subtype of oral squamous cell carcinoma marked by immune evasion and antibacterial responses. These findings reshape our understanding of oral cancer and open the door to more precise, targeted treatments in the future.

Kyoto, Japan -- Like schools of fish and flocks of birds, our cells too can migrate collectively in coordination with their neighbors. This harmonious movement of cells occurs during embryonic development, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. However, since individual cells can only sense limited local information, how they are able to coordinate as a larger collective has remained poorly understood.

Previous studies have demonstrated that this collective migration involves adhesion between cells and waves of ERK signaling activation, named for the ERK proteins involved, and may also be influenced by ZO-1, a scaffolding protein best known for its role in cell-cell adhesion. Building on this knowledge, a team of researchers at Kyoto University was motivated to uncover the elusive mechanism behind collective cell movement.

Using live-cell imaging of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells -- model mammal cells often used in biomedical studies -- the researchers were able to directly observe the movement of cell collectives. They simultaneously monitored ERK activity using a FRET biosensor and visualized ZO-1 localization using fluorescently tagged ZO-1.

In tetrapods with a "neck," head stability is achieved by contracting and relaxing neck muscles. Whether head stabilization exists in fish, which lack a "neck," was previously unknown. The research group discovered for the first time that fish can also stabilize their heads against tilting, and identified the neural circuits and muscles responsible for this behavior. The neural circuit architecture underlying head stabilization in fish shares features with that governing neck-based head stabilization in tetrapods, suggesting this research may shed light on the evolutionary origins of head stabilization behavior and the morphological neck.