Pesticides are widely distributed in soils1,2,3, yet their effects on soil biodiversity remain poorly understood4,5,6,7. Here we examined the effects of 63 pesticides on soil archaea, bacteria, fungi, protists, nematodes, arthropods and key functional gene groups across 373 sites spanning woodlands, grasslands and croplands in 26 European countries. Pesticide residues were detected in 70% of sites and emerged as the second strongest driver of soil biodiversity patterns after soil properties. Our analysis further revealed organism- and function-specific patterns, emphasizing complex and widespread non-target effects on soil biodiversity. Pesticides altered microbial functions, including phosphorus and nitrogen cycling, and suppressed beneficial taxa, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and bacterivore nematodes. Our findings highlight the need to integrate functional and taxonomic characteristics into future risk assessment methodology to safeguard soil biodiversity, a cornerstone of ecosystem functioning.

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Abstract. Understanding the drivers and consequences of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a key goal of microbial evolution research. Although co-occurring

Many organisms survive harsh environments by switching into special survival modes. Some bacteria do this by forming spores—dormant, highly resilient cells that can persist for years or even centuries...

Novel study looks at microbiomes in aerial surfaces of plants, and their roles in plant health and environmental processes

Silva et al. perform a global analysis of over 11,000 gut microbiomes and reveal that uncultured bacteria are key markers of gut health. The uncultured genus CAG-170 is strongly linked to low gut dysb...

Bacteria that live inside the cells of arthropod hosts (“endosymbionts”) are gaining increasing interest as targets for pest control and for reducing the ability of arthropod vectors to transmit anim....

Energy is required for the expression and maintenance of complex traits. In many habitats, however, free energy available to support biosynthesis i...

The critical contribution of microbiota to animal, plant and environmental health is now widely accepted. Progress has been driven by two parallel approaches: in silico analyses of large -omics data …

Liu et al. develop a structure database of human gut microbial proteins and a structure-aware AI model for remote homolog detection. They demonstrate the power of structure-guided approach in discover...

Universal paralog protein families form due to gene duplications that occurred prior to the last universal common ancestor of life. This perspective describes how these protein families offer valuable...

a blog for miscellaneous bioinformatics stuff

Eukaryotic gene expression is orchestrated by RNA polymerases (RNAPI, II, and III) and associated factors, yet their real-time dynamics remain obscure. Using single-molecule tracking in living yeast, ...

Abstract. Salmonella enterica, a prominent enteric pathogen, employs sophisticated iron acquisition mechanisms to overcome host-imposed iron limitation, no