New light shed on key bacterial immune system
New insights into a surprisingly flexible immune system present in bacteria for combating viruses and other foreign DNA invaders have been revealed by researchers from New Zealand's University of Otago...
View ArticleSequencing efforts miss DNA crucial to bacteria's disease causing power
Genomic sequencing is supposed to reveal the entire genetic makeup of an organism. For infectious disease specialists, the technology can be used to analyze a disease-causing bacterium to determine how...
View ArticleA revolutionary approach to studying the intestinal microbiota
An international research team within the MetaHIT consortium coordinated by INRA and involving teams from CEA, CNRS and Université d'Evry, has developed a new method to analyse the global genome, or...
View ArticleBees from the inside out
It is 1,825 miles from New Haven, Conn., to Austin, Tex., which typically means 30 hours of driving and three nights in motels, not an easy trip for anyone. But for researchers moving from Yale...
View ArticleOur microbes are a rich source of drugs, researchers discover
Bacteria that normally live in and upon us have genetic blueprints that enable them to make thousands of molecules that act like drugs, and some of these molecules might serve as the basis for new...
View ArticleA novel roadmap through bacterial genomes leads the way to new drug discovery
For millennia, bacteria and other microbes have engaged in intense battles of chemical warfare, attempting to edge each other out of comfortable ecological niches. Doctors fight pathogens with an...
View ArticlePrimitive microbes stole bacterial genes on a surprising scale
A University of Otago researcher is part of an international team that has discovered that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) played a surprisingly large role in the evolution of primitive microbes known...
View ArticleGene identified for immune system reset after infection
When pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella or Staphylococcus invade a host, the host organism should respond by going into a state of high alert, altering its metabolism to defend against the attack.
View ArticleBacteria could be rich source for making terpenes
If you've ever enjoyed the scent of a pine forest or sniffed a freshly cut basil leaf, then you're familiar with terpenes. The compounds are responsible for the essential oils of plants and the resins...
View ArticleUnderstanding the personalities of bacteria
Bacteria are as individual as people, according to new research by Professor Peter Young and his team in the Department of Biology at the University of York. Bacteria are essential to health,...
View ArticleResearchers identify protein capable of neutralizing antibiotic-resistant...
Antibiotic-resistant infections are on the rise, foiling efforts to reduce death rates in developing countries where uncontrolled use of antibiotics and poor sanitation run amok. The epidemic of...
View ArticleSome genes 'foreign' in origin and not from our ancestors
Many animals, including humans, acquired essential 'foreign' genes from microorganisms co-habiting their environment in ancient times, according to research published in the open access journal Genome...
View ArticleAntimicrobial CRISPR-Cas systems may be better weapons against bacteria than...
Antibiotics are compounds that can kill bacteria. Many antibiotics are produced naturally by bacteria themselves as they compete for food or living space with other bacterial species. Over time,...
View ArticleQuasi-sexual gene transfer drives genetic diversity of hot spring bacteria
New work from a team including Carnegie's Devaki Bhaya and Michelle Davison used massive DNA sequencing of bacterial populations that grow in the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park to determine...
View ArticleClamshell-shaped protein puts the 'jump' in 'jumping genes'
Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have deciphered the structure and unusual shape of a bacterial protein that prepares segments of DNA for the insertion of so-called jumping genes. The clamshell...
View ArticleError correction strategies of cells: Team proposes new hypothesis
Cells dynamically respond to environmental signals by turning appropriate sets of genes on or off. The "control system" that determines which genes need to be expressed at what time depends primarily...
View ArticleSpelling mutations and evolutionary advantages
DNA codes carrying instructions for creating a protein can sometimes be 'spelt' differently, although they specify the exact same sequence information to create that protein. Scientists from the...
View ArticleChinese investigators characterize the world of resistance gene exchange...
Certain antibiotic resistance genes are easily transferred from one bacterial species to another, and can move between farm animals and the human gut. A team led by Chinese researchers has...
View ArticleRevving the microbial engine: Horsepower vs. fuel efficiency in bacterial...
Microbes that can reproduce rapidly in times of plenty have an evolutionary stockpile of extra genes that allows them to quickly respond to changing conditions such as oil spills or outbreaks of...
View ArticleMore than 7 million bacterial genes in the pig gut
An international consortium of researchers from INRA (France), University of Copenhagen and SEGES (Denmark), BGI-Shenzhen (China) and NIFES (Norway) has now established the first catalogue of bacterial...
View ArticleBacterial genes boost current in human cells
Duke University biomedical engineers have harvested genes for ion channels from bacteria that, with a few tweaks, can create and enhance electrical signaling in human cells, making the cells more...
View ArticleHow fungi can improve the genetic makeup of bacteria
Soil bacteria use the extensively branched, thread-like structures of fungi to move around and access new food sources. In a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports, UFZ researchers have...
View ArticleThe evolutionary secret of H. pylori to survive in the stomach
Professor Frédéric Veyrier's most recent research, in collaboration with the team of Professor Hilde De Reuse at the Institut Pasteur, has shed light on key genes essential to the pathogenesis of...
View ArticleFor viral predators of bacteria, sensitivity can be contagious
Bacteriophages (phages) are probably the most abundant entities in nature, often exceeding bacterial densities by an order of magnitude. As viral predators of bacteria, phages have a major impact on...
View ArticleSystem holds promise for study of biological systems, biosensors and...
Researchers from the University of Maryland (UMD) are working to develop an electrogenetic device to direct gene expression, an achievement that holds promise for controlling biological systems and...
View ArticleGene transfer keeps bacteria fit
Researchers at the University of Basel's Biozentrum have discovered that Bartonella bacteria exchange genes efficiently using a domesticated virus encoded in their genome. As the findings published in...
View ArticleGut bacteria might one day help slow down aging process
Slowing down the aging process might be possible one day with supplements derived from gut bacteria. Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center at...
View ArticleScientists invent new tool for the synthetic biologist's toolbox
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have invented a new method for controlling gene expression across bacterial colonies. The method involves engineering dynamic DNA copy number...
View ArticleBacterial plasmids readily pick up new genes and spread them to new species
New research from the University of Sheffield has found that bacterial plasmids readily pick up new genes and spread them to new species – something which is an increasing concern for transfer of...
View ArticleEstablishing a genome-wide map of bacterial genes crucial for colonization of...
Working with the plant growth-promoting bacterium Pseudomonas simiae, researchers have identified 115 genes that negatively affect its ability to colonize a plant root system when mutated.
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