Microbes and More News

September 9, 2016

Bees: Flowers a Link to Bacteria Transmission

Zika Virus May Persist in Eyes, May Be Infectious

New Genus of Bacteria in Fracking Wells

Vaccine Against 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria?

Latest Headlines

updated 12:55am EDT

Bacteria Supply Their Allies With Munitions

Sep. 8, 2016 — Bacteria fight their competitors with molecular spear guns, the so-called Type VI secretion system. When firing this weapon they also unintentionally hit their own kind. ... read more

The History of Beer Yeast

Sep. 8, 2016 — Today's industrial yeast strains are used to make beer, wine, bread, biofuels, and more, but their evolutionary history is not well studied. Researchers have now described a ... read more

Elucidating Structure of Bacterial Flagellar Motor Protein

Sep. 7, 2016 — Researchers used biochemical techniques and electron microscopy to uncover the structure of the bacterial MotA protein, which forms part of the propeller motor (flagellum). ... read more

Pushing a Parasite from Land to Sea

Sep. 6, 2016 — Higher levels of rainfall and coastal development increase the risk of disease-causing organisms flowing to the ocean, according to a study. The work advances earlier work by tracking the parasite T. ... read more

Antimicrobial Chemicals Found With Antibiotic-Resistance Genes in Indoor Dust

Sep. 7, 2016 — University of Oregon researchers have found links between the levels of antimicrobial chemicals and antibiotic-resistance genes in the dust of an ... read more

How Fungi Help Trees Tolerate Drought

Sep. 7, 2016 — Specific adaptations in the transcriptome of the most common ectomycorrhizal fungus could help their hosts be more resistant to drought stress, a finding that could be useful ... read more

New Sensor Could Help Fight Deadly Bacterial Infections

Sep. 6, 2016 — Scientists have built a new sensor that can detect the potentially deadly E.coli bacteria in 15-20 minutes, much faster than traditional lab ... read more

Doughnut in a Cage Holds the Key to Bacteria's Survival

Sep. 6, 2016 — Scientists have shed new light on how bacteria survive – they rely on a doughnut. The researchers found that bacteria have a unique doughnut-shaped protein that sits in a cage inside their cells ... read more

Crop Domestication Is a Balancing Act: Some Ants Are Still Trying to Get It Right

Sep. 2, 2016 — The ancestors of leaf-cutter ants swapped a hunter-gatherer lifestyle for a bucolic existence on small-scale subsistence ... read more

New Knowledge About the Building Blocks of Life

Sep. 2, 2016 — A study of an enzyme that helps build and repair DNA in living organisms increases our understanding of how these processes are controlled and how we can use this to combat ... read more

The Thai Village Using Cow Dung to Power Homes

Artist Turns Cow Dung Into Eco-Friendly Fashion

Anthrax Outbreak in Remote Russia Kills Boy, Infects 20

A Reindeer Might Have Caused Siberia's Sudden Anthrax Outbreak

Stealth Pig Cells May Hold the Key to Treating Diabetes in Humans

Sep. 8, 2016 — In preclinical work begun this year, stealth insulin-producers — pancreatic islets from pigs or mice coated with thin bilayers of biomimetic material — are being tested in vivo in a mouse model ... read more

Mechanical Engineering in Hot Pursuit of Creeping Bacteria

Sep. 7, 2016 — The growth of bacterial biofilm is problematic when you think of all the liquid flowing through all those miles of tubing at your local hospital or Medi-Centre. The movement of bacteria with flow can ... read more

Killing Germs With Electron Beams

Sep. 6, 2016 — Medical products, packaging and food can be safely and efficiently sterilized with electron beams. In the future, researchers also plan to use accelerated electrons to eliminate germs from tissue ... read more

Young Children's Antibiotic Exposure Associated With Higher Food Allergy Risk

Sep. 1, 2016 — Antibiotic treatment within the first year of life may wipe out more than an unwanted infection: exposure to the drugs is associated with an increase in food allergy diagnosis, new research ... read more

New Virus Gets Official Name, Influenza D

Sep. 1, 2016 — A new influenza virus that affects cattle has an official name. influenza D. The executive committee of the International Committee of Taxonomy of Virus announced a new genus, Orthomyxovirdae, with a ... read more

Findings About Protein Could Open Door to New Class of Antibiotics

Sep. 1, 2016 — Researchers have made the first-ever detailed, atomic-level images of a peroxiredoxin, which has revealed a peculiar characteristic of this protein that might form the foundation for an entirely new ... read more

Zika Reference Strain Sequenced, Will Aid in Diagnosis, Screening

Sep. 1, 2016 — An international team of researchers has sequenced a strain of the Zika virus that will be used as a World Health Organization reference strain to identify Zika virus infection in the blood, thus ... read more

Scientists Find New System in Tomato's Defense Against Bacterial Speck Disease

Sep. 1, 2016 — Researchers have discovered a new receptor used by tomatoes to detect the organism that causes bacterial speck disease. The receptor, called FLS3, is present in a small number of plant species, ... read more

Life Thrived on Young Earth: Scientists Discover 3.7-Billion-Year-Old Fossils

Aug. 31, 2016 — A team of Australian researchers has uncovered the world's oldest fossils in a remote area of Greenland, capturing the earliest history of the planet and demonstrating that life on Earth emerged ... read more

Gaming for Gut Research

Aug. 31, 2016 — You may not think of yourself in this way, but in some ways your body is just a host for hundreds of trillions of microbes (including bacteria) that colonize us in fairly unique combinations in our ... read more

ICU Patients Lose Helpful Gut Bacteria Within Days of Hospital Admission

Aug. 31, 2016 — The microbiome of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at a hospital differs dramatically from that of healthy patients, according to a new study. Researchers analyzing microbial taxa ... read more

Sabotaging Bacteria Propellers to Stop Infections

Aug. 31, 2016 — Researchers discovered how to stop bacteria motility and thus how to disrupt bacterial ... read more

Study on Diversity of Microbial Groups Demonstrates the Effects of Human-Caused Changes in Climate, Land Use and Other Factors

Aug. 30, 2016 — Research shows the diversity of soil bacteria, fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria all are better predicted by variation in environmental temperature rather than ... read more