A pattern recognition receptor called toll-like receptor 13 detects pathogens in a manner that is different to that seen in other pathogen sensors.

Intramembrane proteases identify target proteins in a different way from other proteases.

Histones bound to lipid droplets inside cells offer protection against bacteria in flies, and possibly mice, thus suggesting a possible new innate immunity pathway.

Simulations and experiments on systems containing two different populations of microorganisms show that interactions that benefit at least one of the populations can lead to communities with stable compositions, and that strong cooperation between two populations can lead to communities in which both populations are mixed together.

The nematode worm C. elegans consumes familiar bacterial species more rapidly than it does novel ones, and this preference for familiarity is mediated by a pair of serotonergic neurons.

Experiments on synthetic models of synaptic vesicles have shed new light on the role of the protein α-synuclein in the central nervous system.

Proteins produced by mast cells modulate the permeability of blood vessels, and may determine whether patients infected with dengue virus develop life-threatening complications.

Some of the mutations that occur during influenza evolution can only be tolerated in conjunction with other mutations that increase the stability of a viral protein.

Chronic and excessive inflammation can lead to exhaustion of the supply of hematopoietic stem cells and to myeloid malignancies in mice, mimicking important aspects of the myelodysplastic syndrome found in humans.

Structural and biochemical analysis of a protein called Ecp6, which is produced by a tomato fungus, reveals how the protein prevents plants from launching an immune response to the chitin in fungal cell walls.