All wrapped up

摘要

A fungus that causes life-threatening lung infections in people protects itself within a biofilm, researchers at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, have found. Aspergillus fumigatus (pictured) has previously been grown in liquid for study, but Anne Beauvais and her colleagues decided to grow it on a gel exposed to air, to mimic conditions in the lung more closely. They observed that a hydrophobic sheath glued its filaments together.