An interdisciplinary study by scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and the Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom, has attempted to understand and model the role of asymmetry in the process of cell division in eukaryotic cells—cells with a nucleus enclosed within a membrane—using the roundworm (Caenorhabditis elegans) embryo. The findings of the study is published in Biophysical Journal.
The study from IISc found a previously unidentified yeast-like symbiont inside the lac insect Kerria lacca, which gives the insect its distinctive red colour and, may also provide other nutrients in return for shelter.