Understanding how representative currently known proteins are of the overall potential diversity can help inform strategies for a wide range of applications, including therapeutic, biocatalysis, or biomaterials development. Published in PNAS, an OIST-led international team investigated the relationship between protein evolution and sequence space, identifying the limiting factors behind protein diversification. Their findings reinforce theories of DNA recombination as a driving force of ancestral protein formation and highlight the limitations of many cutting-edge AI protein design methods.

In a study led by researchers from the NRF-DSTI research chair in African Microbiome Innovation at Stellenbosch University (SU), scientists investigated how antimicrobial resistance genes behave in WWTPs and rivers in a large urban city in South Africa. Because of the lack of such studies in Africa, and the potential implications for water reuse, Dr Makumbi and his co-authors conducted a microbiome study to get a sense of what is happening at WWTWs and connected river systems in South Africa.

Scientists call for a major acceleration in coral assisted evolution research to help reefs cope with rapidly warming oceans.