Gut microbiome regulates the intestinal immune system

A new study in mice unveils the role of vitamin A in immune system regulation, a finding that could assist in developing treatments for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases as well as vitamin A deficiency. Source: sciencedaily

Sewage bacteria lurking in Hudson river sediments, study finds

A new study shows that fecal bacteria from sewage are living in far greater quantities in near-shore sediments of the Hudson River than in the water itself. The river's pollution levels are generally monitored based on samples of clear water, not sediments, so the findings suggest that people stirring up the bottom while wading, swimming or kayaking may face previously unrecognized health risks. Source: sciencedaily

Life in Deep Earth totals 15 to 23 billion tons of carbon -- hundreds of times more than humans

Barely living 'zombie' bacteria and other forms of life constitute an immense amount of carbon deep within Earth's subsurface 245 to 385 times greater than the carbon mass of all humans on the surface, according to Deep Carbon Observatory scientists nearing the end of a 10-year international collaboration to reveal Earth's innermost secrets. Source: sciencedaily

A detailed look at the microorganisms that colonize, and degrade, a 400-year-old painting

What's a feast for the human eye may be a literal feast for microorganisms that colonize works of art, according to a new study. The researchers characterized the microbial community on a 17th century painting and showed that while some microbes destroy such works of art, others might be employed to protect them. Source: sciencedaily

Bacterium in a beetle makes it a leaf-eater

A leaf-eating beetle has evolved a symbiotic relationship that allows the insect to break down pectin. The findings on the novel function of the bacterium, which has a surprisingly tiny genome -- much smaller than previous reports on the minimum size required for an organism not subsisting within a host cell. Source: sciencedaily

'Bionic mushrooms' fuse nanotech, bacteria and fungi

Researchers have taken an ordinary white button mushroom from a grocery store and made it bionic, supercharging it with 3D-printed clusters of cyanobacteria that generate electricity and swirls of graphene nanoribbons that can collect the current. Source: sciencedaily

Corals produce molecules that can help resist disease

Scientists report that corals, though they are stationary organisms, can alter their surroundings by producing unique molecules that can help recruit healthy microbiomes and fight parasitic microbes. Source: sciencedaily

Immigration to the United States changes a person's microbiome

Researchers have shown that the regions in the United States where pathogenic mycobacteria are most prevalent in showerheads are the same regions where nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung infections are most common. The study emphasizes the important role of showerheads in the transmission of NTM infections. Source: sciencedaily

Showerhead bacteria and lung infections: Researchers find correlation

Researchers have shown that the regions in the United States where pathogenic mycobacteria are most prevalent in showerheads are the same regions where nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung infections are most common. The study emphasizes the important role of showerheads in the transmission of NTM infections. Source: sciencedaily

Synthetic microorganisms allow scientists to study ancient evolutionary mysteries

Scientists at Scripps Research and their collaborators have created microorganisms that may recapitulate key features of organisms thought to have lived billions of years ago, allowing them to explore questions about how life evolved from inanimate molecules to single-celled organisms to the complex, multicellular lifeforms we see today. Source: sciencedaily

Diet affects the breast microbiome in mammals

Diet influences the composition of microbial populations in the mammary glands of nonhuman primates, researchers report. Specifically, a Mediterranean diet increased the abundance of probiotic bacteria previously shown to inhibit tumor growth in animals. Source: sciencedaily

Artificial sweeteners have toxic effects on gut microbes

The collaborative study indicated relative toxicity of six artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharine, neotame, advantame, and acesulfame potassium-k) and 10 sport supplements containing these artificial sweeteners. The bacteria found in the digestive system became toxic when exposed to concentrations of only one mg./ml. of the artificial sweeteners. Source: sciencedaily

Infectious bacteria hibernate to evade antibiotics

Almost all pathogenic bacteria develop a small number of antibiotic-tolerant variants. This means that a significant fraction of bacteria survive courses of antibiotics. While it is no secret that pathogenic bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistant variants, a less well-appreciated fact is that a small number of bacteria, including some of nature's nastiest pathogens, can resist antibiotics and escape antibiotic treatments without relying on variants. Source: sciencedaily

Microbial 'dark matter' dominates Earth's environments

Uncultured microbes those whose characteristics have never been described because they have not yet been grown in a lab culture could be dominating nearly all the environments on Earth except for the human body, according to a new study. Source: sciencedaily

Human gut study questions probiotic health benefits

New research suggests that probiotics might not be as effective as we think. Through a series of experiments looking inside the human gut, researchers show that many people's digestive tracts prevent standard probiotics from successfully colonizing them. Source: sciencedaily

Artificial cells are tiny bacteria fighters

"Lego block" artificial cells that can kill bacteria have been created by researchers at the University of California, Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering. The work is reported Aug. 29 in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Source: sciencedaily

Microbes hitch a ride inland on coastal fog

Fog can act as a vector for microbes, transferring them long distances and introducing them into new environments. So reports an analysis of the microbiology of coastal fog, recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. Source: sciencedaily

Top-performing soil microbes could be key to sustainable agriculture

Beautiful things can happen when plants surround themselves with the right microbes. A study on Acmispon strigosus, a plant in the pea family, showed a 13-fold growth increase in plants that partnered with a highly effective strain of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria Bradyrhizobium. Source: sciencedaily

Probiotic use is a link between brain fogginess, severe bloating

Probiotic use can result in a significant accumulation of bacteria in the small intestine that can result in disorienting brain fogginess as well as rapid, significant belly bloating, investigators report. Source: sciencedaily

Understanding soil through its microbiome

Soil is full of life, essential for nutrient cycling and carbon storage. To better understand how it functions, researchers conducted the first global study of bacteria and fungi in soil. Their results show that bacteria and fungi are in constant competition for nutrients and produce an arsenal of antibiotics to gain an advantage over one another. Source: sciencedaily

Do bacteria ever go extinct? New research says yes, bigtime

Bacteria go extinct at substantial rates, although appear to avoid the mass extinctions that have hit larger forms of life on Earth, according to new research from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Caltech, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The finding contradicts widely held scientific thinking that microbe taxa, because of their very large populations, rarely die off. Source: sciencedaily

Gut bacteria byproduct protects against Salmonella, study finds

Propionate, a byproduct of metabolism by a group of bacteria called the Bacteroides, inhibits the growth of Salmonella in the intestinal tract of mice, according to the researchers. The finding may help to explain why some people are better able to fight infection by Salmonella and other intestinal pathogens and lead to the development of better treatment strategies. Source: sciencedaily

Intestinal virus study shows major changes associated with inflammatory bowel disease

Unexpected patterns emerged in the microbial and viral communities of mice with intestinal inflammation during a study that examined the intestinal tracts of diseased and healthy mice. Spearheaded by researchers at North Carolina State University, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Colorado, the study could lead to better understanding of potential causes and markers of inflammatory bowel disease. Source: sciencedaily

Technique may improve lung delivery of bacteria-killing phage

Phage therapy is a promising alternative to antibiotics because it attacks specific pathogens, does not harm the body's normal contingent of bacteria and won't contribute to multi-drug resistance. However, therapeutic bacteriophages can be difficult to purify and challenging to deliver to the site of an infection, especially when that location is the lungs. Source: sciencedaily

Aircraft microbiome much like that of homes and offices, study finds

According to a new study, the answer is the microbiome the community of bacteria found in homes, offices and aircraft cabins. Believed to be the first to comprehensively assess the microbiome of aircraft, the study found that the bacterial communities accompanying airline passengers at 30,000 feet have much in common with the bacterial communities surrounding people in their homes and offices. Source: phys

Team discover how microbes survive clean rooms and contaminate spacecraft

Rakesh Mogul, a Cal Poly Pomona professor of biological chemistry, was the lead author of an article in the journal Astrobiology that offers the first biochemical evidence explaining the reason the contamination persists. Source: phys

Scientists watch bacteria 'harpoon' DNA to speed their evolution

Using methods invented at IU, researchers recorded the first images of bacterial appendages over 10,000 times thinner than human hair as they stretched out to catch DNA. These DNA fragments can then be incorporated into bacteria's own genome through a process called DNA uptake or "horizontal gene transfer." Source: phys

Searching the sea, and bacterial battles, for new antibiotics

Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin the world's first natural antibiotic is famously told as a story of serendipity: a petri dish growing bacteria was contaminated by mold, which secreted a substance to keep bacteria at bay. The lesson learned was that science can take advantage of chance encounters to change the world. Source: phys

Large-scale study indicates novel, abundant nitrogen-fixing microbes in surface ocean

Move over, cyanobacteria! A large-scale study of the Earth's surface ocean indicates the microbes responsible for fixing nitrogen there previously thought to be almost exclusively photosynthetic cyanobacteria-include an abundant and widely distributed suite of non-photosynthetic bacterial populations. Source: phys

Fueling a deep-sea ecosystem: Surprisingly productive microbes are a key source of food in the abyss

A new study by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists has unveiled that these microbe-based ecosystems are surprisingly productive and play an important role supporting life higher up the food chain in the food-starved deep ocean. They estimate that worldwide, deep-sea hydrothermal vent microbial communities can produce more than 4,000 tons of organic carbon each day, the building block of life. That is roughly the same amount of carbon in 200 blue whales—making these ecosystems among the ocean's most productive on a per volume basis. The study appears in the June 11, 2018, issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Source: phys

How bacteria behave differently in humans compared to the lab

Most of what we know today about deadly bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa was obtained from studies done in laboratory settings. Research reported May 14 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that this laboratory-based information may have important limits for predicting how these bugs behave once they've invaded humans. Source: phys

Sterol-producing bacteria may change interpretation of geological history

Molecules called sterols linger in soils and rocks for billions of years and have served as a tell-tale sign to geologists that the plants, animals and fungi that produce them must once have lived nearby. But a new discovery could have geologists rethinking what they've learned from that rock record. Source: phys

Microbes living in a toxic volcanic lake could hold clues to life on Mars

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have discovered microbes living in a toxic volcanic lake that may rank as one of the harshest environments on Earth. Their findings, published recently online, could guide scientists looking for signs of ancient life on Mars. Source: phys

Bacteria may be powerful weapon against antibiotic resistance

Bacteria in the dish on the left are sensitive to antibiotics in the paper discs. The ones on the right are resistant to four of the seven antibiotics Source: phys

Building a circular bioeconomy with synthetic biology

The largest marine oil spill initiated by an explosion of methane gas on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig is supposed to have leaked around 800 million liters of oil into the environment. Causing severe damage to the whole ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico and to the people living around it, oil spills such as this demonstrate that our reliance on oil is coupled to serious consequences. Even in recent times, such as in the disastrous oil spill on the coast of the Indonesian port city of Balikpapan on Borneo which led to the declaration of a state of emergency, large-scale accidents involving oil can cause immeasurable damage. Source: phys

Plant relationships break down when they meet new fungi

Unseen to most of us, almost all plants form below-ground interactions with beneficial soil microbes. One of the most important of these partnerships is an interaction between plant roots and a type of soil fungi called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Source: phys

Study shows microplastics in biowaste wind up in organic compost and fertilizers

A team of researchers at the University of Bayreuth in Germany has found that microplastics that make their way into biowaste can show up in organic composts and fertilizers. In their paper published on the open access site Science Advances, the group describes their results when testing organic composts and fertilizers from several processing plants. Source: phys

Engineers pioneer greener and cheaper technique for biofuel production

A team of engineers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) recently discovered that a naturally occurring bacterium, Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum TG57, isolated from waste generated after harvesting mushrooms, is capable of directly converting cellulose, a plant-based material, to biobutanol. Source: phys

Researchers focus on how bacteria cause food poisoning

Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial food poisoning in the world according to the World Health Organization, and with over a million people in the U.S. infected every year, it's not surprising that there is a need to understand why this spiral-shaped microbe causes disease. Source: phys

Artificial antimicrobial peptides could help overcome drug-resistant bacteria

During the past several years, many strains of bacteria have become resistant to existing antibiotics, and very few new drugs have been added to the antibiotic arsenal. Source: phys

Sunlight reduces effectiveness of dispersants used in oil spills

Two new studies have shown that sunlight transforms oil spills on the ocean surface more significantly and quickly than previously thought. The phenomenon considerably limits the effectiveness of chemical dispersants, which are designed to break up floating oil and reduce the amount of oil that reaches coastlines. Source: phys

Microbiome study suggests marine nematodes are not picky eaters

In such tight quarters, how does everyone get enough to eat? University of California, Riverside researchers investigated whether microbiomes microbial communities that are associated with larger hosts might play a role. Since gut microbes help with food breakdown, perhaps different species have evolved different microbiomes to reduce competition and promote co-existence. Source: phys

Could shallow biospheres exist beneath the icy ceilings of ocean moons?

Alien life could potentially exist on the undersides of the icy shells of Jupiter's moon Europa and other frozen worlds thanks to the intersection of chemical energy rising up from hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor and oxidants diffusing down from the surface. Source: phys

How beneficial gut bacteria optimise host colonisation and biofilm formation

The finding may lead to new, improved probiotics with optimised abilities to colonise our gut and battle infections by forming strong associations with the host as biofilms. It also helps our understanding of how the vast community of microbes in our gut, known as the microbiota, establishes a durable and specific relationship with the host, that helps to keep us healthy. Source: phys

Molecule discovered in dirt could help against multi-resistant bacteria

Employing an innovative technique to sequence the genes of microbes living in soil, the researchers recently announced they have found a new class of powerful antibiotics called malacidins, which they hope could be effective against multidrug-resistant bacteria. Source: phys

New technique can reveal previously undetectable bacteria in places where they aren't wanted

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have developed a microbial detection technique so sensitive that it allows them to detect as few as 50-100 bacterial cells present on a surface. What's more, they can test samples more efficiently up to hundreds of samples in a single day. Source: phys

Strings of electron-carrying proteins may hold the secret to 'electric bacteria'

Scientist Moh El-Naggar and his team think it's possible. They work with the Shewanella oneidensis species of bacteria, one of a group of microbes that essentially "breathe" rocks. Source: phys

Enzyme discovery enables first-time microbial production of an aromatic biofuel

A major focus of research at JBEI, and in the broader community of biofuel researchers, is the production of industrially and commercially relevant fuels and chemicals from renewable resources, such as lignocellulosic biomass, rather than from petroleum. The enzyme discovered in this study will enable the first-time microbial production of bio-based toluene, and in fact, the first microbial production of any aromatic hydrocarbon biofuel. Source: phys

Tissue mechanics essential for cell movement

Cells that form facial features need surrounding embryonic tissues to stiffen so they can move and develop, according to new UCL-led research. The discovery has important implications for understanding the causes of facial defects which account for a third of all birth defects globally (3.2 million each year) and are the primary cause of infant mortality. It is the first time that the mechanical properties of the environment surrounding embryonic cells has been shown to be crucial in cell movement and development, rather than genes or molecules. The researchers say it is likely that a similar mechanism is used by other cells involved in spreading cancer and wound healing. Source: phys

When it comes to extinction, body size matters

In classic extinction models, animals move over their surroundings like pacmen, chomping up resources to fuel their survival. On a certain level, extinction is all about energy. Animals move over their surroundings like pacmen, chomping up resources to fuel their survival. If they gain a certain energy threshold, they reproduce, essentially earning an extra life. If they encounter too many empty patches, they starve, and by the end of the level it's game over. Source: phys

Competing for blood: How ecologists are solving infectious disease mysteries

By looking at malaria infections (yellow) and hookworms (grey) as competitors battling over a key resource, red blood cells. Princeton ecologists Andrea Graham and Sarah Budischak were able to explain why some co-infected patients got sicker after being dewormed: without the hookworms to keep them in check, the malaria infection can run rampant. Source: phys

Biologists decipher a key piece of the odor-detection puzzle in flies, mosquitoes

UCR biologists have discovered that the complex odor-detecting machinery of the fruit fly Drosophila is heavily influenced by one specific odor receptor made up of two subunits, called Gr21a and Gr63a. Source: phys

Viruses—lots of them—are falling from the sky

An astonishing number of viruses are circulating around the Earth's atmosphere and falling from it according to new research from scientists in Canada, Spain and the U.S. Viruses and bacteria fall back to Earth via dust storms and precipitation. Source: phys

Microscope enables researchers to control motion within living cells

Flow of cell fluid in a worm embryo: a new microscope allows researchers to change the flow direction. As a result, the head-to-tail body axis of the embryo is reversed. Source: phys

Bacterial diversity's shelf life longer than previously expected

University of Montana scientists have published a study in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution showing that bacterial diversity may stick around millions of years longer than previously thought Source: phys

Plotting the path of plant pathogens

In a sneak attack, some pathogenic microbes manipulate plant hormones to gain access to their hosts undetected. Biologists at Washington University in St. Louis have exposed one such interloper by characterizing the unique biochemical pathway it uses to synthesize auxin, a central hormone in plant development. Source: phys

Parasite mimics human proteins to provide 'ready meals' from the gut

Giardia parasites - responsible for one of the world's most common gastric diseases are able to mimic human cell functions to break apart cells in the gut and feed off them, new research has shown. Source: phys

High-resolution imaging gives an unparalleled view of how fungi grow

Many fungus species grow through a process of vesicle secretion that can be applied in a biotechnology setting to make commercial or medical products. However, the details of this process are unclear. Researchers at the University of Tsukuba (Japan) used a high-speed imaging technique to visualize hyphal growth in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Several new features were uncovered, including the discovery that different vesicle types move at different velocities. Source: phys

Bacterial highways

The cheese rind bacteria Serratia proteamaculans follow physical networks, microscopic “highways” created by filamentous fungi to swim in the liquid layers on the fungal branches. This interaction could play a major role in shaping the composition of microbiomes, researchers say. Source: The scientist

Researchers Discover 10 New Immune Systems in Bacteria

Bacteria have been defending themselves from phages, viruses that attack bacterial cells for billions of years, and unlocking the immune mechanisms they use to protect themselves has led to the development of powerful molecular biology tools such as restriction enzymes and CRISPR-Cas9. Now, researchers have discovered 10 more immune systems that bacteria use to protect themselves against phages and plasmids, opening up the possibility to add new tools to the molecular biology toolbox. Source: The scientist

Scientists engineer microbes to form 'memories' of their environment

Inserting chemically sensitive genes into the DNA of bacteria can produce lasting “memories” of their environment and show scientists how they communicate. Source: phys

Cellular division strategy shared across all domains of life

SEAS researchers have found that these pink-hued archaea called Halobacterium salinarum use the same mechanisms to maintain size as bacteria and eukaryotic life, indicating that cellular division strategy may be shared across all domains of life. Source: phys

Many more bacteria have electrically conducting filaments

Microbiologist Derek Lovley and colleaugues at UMass Amherst report finding electrically conducting pili or 'e-pili' in more bacteria species than just the original Geobacter discovery he made 30 years ago. Source: phys

Common fungus helps dengue virus thrive in mosquitoes

A species of fungus that lives in the gut of some Aedes aegypti mosquitoes increases the ability of dengue virus to survive in the insects, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The fungus exerts this effect by reducing the production and activity of digestive enzymes in the mosquitoes. Source: phys

Microbes of the Human Tongue Form Organized Clusters

Bacteria on the tongue’s surface reside in clumps distinguished by genus, unlike the intermingled communities observed in other tissues. Microbial communities scraped from a human tongue. Each color represents a different genus. Cyan: Rothia, Red: Actinymyces, Yellow: Neisseria, Magenta: Veillonella, Green: Streptococcus, White: host epithelial material. Source: The-scientist

Image of the Day: Tissue Feast

Listeria monocytogenes, a cunning bacterium capable of invading different cells in the body, can cause listeriosis, a foodborne disease, in humans and livestock. It uses a network of filaments to travel between cells, a process which researchers have begun to study by investigating how the bacterium infects human epithelial cells. Source: The-scientist

Parasitic worms don't just wait to be swallowed by new hosts

Contrary to widespread assumptions, parasitic nematodes that spread among mice via food may not wait passively to be swallowed. Instead, according to new research published in PLOS Pathogens, these tiny worms may use odors from host mice as cues to position themselves where they have a higher chance of being eaten. Source: phys

Theory of the evolution of sexes tested with algae

The varied sex lives of a type of green algae have enabled a University of Adelaide researcher to test a theory of why there are males and females. Source: phys

Bioengineers discover mechanism that regulates cells' 'powerhouses'

UCLA bioengineers and their colleagues have discovered a new perspective on how cells regulate the sizes of mitochondria, the parts of cells that provide energy, by cutting them into smaller units. Source: phys

Long-haired microbes named after Canadian band Rush

Three new species of microbe found in the guts of termites have been named after members of the Canadian prog-rock band Rush, owing to the microbes long hair and rhythmic wriggling under the microscope. Source: phys

World's smallest tape recorder is built from microbes

Audio signals can be stored in a magnetic tape medium; similarly the microscopic data recorder stores biological signals into a CRISPR tape in bacteria. Source: phys

Managing antibiotics not enough to reverse resistance

Researchers have discovered that reducing the use of antibiotics will not be enough to reverse the growing prevalence of antibiotic resistance for some types of bacteria. Source: phys

Scientists reveal 'superbug's' artillery

Monash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) researchers have created the first high-resolution structure depicting a crucial part of the 'superbug' Pseudomonas aeruginosa, classified by the WHO as having the highest level threat to human health. The image identifies the 'nanomachine' used by the highly virulent bacteria to secrete toxins, pointing the way for drug design targeting this. Source: phys

Nidoviruses redundantly express genes and encode more proteins than previously believed, study finds

Arteriviruses, a family of single-stranded RNA viruses that belongs to the order Nidovirales, produce more proteins and messenger RNAs than previously reported, a finding that provides important insights about a virus that could potentially evolve to infect humans in the future, according to a new research study. Source: phys

Unexpected finding in the cell's power plant

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that the protein complex RNase P in the cell's mitochondria behaves differently than previously thought. The findings, published in Nucleic Acids Research, gives important new clues on how certain mutations cause mitochondrial disease. Source: phys

New antibiotic resistance genes found

Model predicts how E. coli bacteria adapt under stress

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a genome-scale model that can accurately predict how E. coli bacteria respond to temperature changes and genetic mutations. The work is aimed at providing a comprehensive, systems-level understanding of how cells adapt under environmental stress. The work has applications in precision medicine, where adaptive cell modeling could provide patient-specific treatments for bacterial infections. Source: phys

Hypermutators' drive pathogenic fungi to evolve more rapidly

In a study published in eLife, Duke researchers show that lineages of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus deuterogattii house a specific mutation in their DNA that increases their mutation rate. These 'hypermutators,' as they are called, rapidly develop resistance to the antifungal drugs FK506 and rapamycin. Source: phys

The global transport of microbes

Wastewater, tourism, and trade are moving microbes around the globe at an unprecedented scale, a group of international researchers, including Professor Michael Gillings from Macquarie University, have argued. The editorial article, published in the premier journal Science, voices the concerns of the scientists, who warn that as we travel the modern world we leave billions of bacteria at every stop, with potentially hazardous consequences for human health. Source: phys

Tiny fighters in sediments determine success of invasive marine plants

Armies of microbes that are invisible to the naked eye battle it out to determine whether exotic marine plants successfully invade new territory and replace native species, UNSW-led research shows. Source: phys

Why bacteria 'shapeshift' in space

Bacterial cells treated with a common antibiotic in the near-weightlessness of the International Space Station (ISS) responded with some clever shape shifting that likely helped them survive. The findings had implications for both astronauts and people on Earth. Source: phys

Fish food for marine farms harbor antibiotic resistance genes

Magic enzymes in 'magic' mushrooms analyzed

Antibiotic resistance rises in 'lonely' mutating microbes

A major study has discovered that so called 'lonely' microbes, those living at low population densities, are more likely to mutate causing higher rates of antibiotic resistance. Source: sciencedaily

How a bacterium can live on methanol

Researchers have identified all the genes required by a bacterium to use methanol as a food source. The results will help scientists advance the use of this resource in the field of biotechnology. Source: sciencedaily

Bacteria never swim alone

Diatoms have sex after all, and ammonium puts them in the mood

New research shows a species of diatom, a single-celled algae, thought to be asexual does reproduce sexually, and scientists learned it's a common compound - ammonium - that puts the ubiquitous organism in the mood. Source:Phys

Microbiota Manipulations

BUG CONTROL: Researchers modified an endogenous Bacteroides promoter sequence to be inducible—it can be turned on or off in mice by adding (right) or omitting (left) anhydrotetracycline (aTC) to the animal’s drinking water. The aTC binds to the TET repressor protein (yellow), thereby preventing its suppression of gene expression. As a proof of principle, the researchers integrated the modified promoter upstream of a sialidase gene in the bacterium’s genome, and showed they could control the enzyme’s activity in mouse intestines. Source:The scientist

HIV hijacks surface molecule to invade cell

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered a key step in the process that HIV uses to inject its genetic material into cells. Working with cultures of cells and tissues, the researchers prevented the invasion process by chemically blocking this step, preventing HIV genetic material from entering cells. The findings could lead to the eventual development of new drugs to prevent HIV infection. Source:Phys

Symbiotic ciliates and bacteria have a common ancestor

Ciliates, just like humans, are colonized by a vast diversity of bacteria. Some ciliates and their bacterial symbionts have become friends for life, as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen demonstrated by comparing a group of these single-celled ciliates and their bacterial partners from the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Seas. The bacteria provide their ciliate hosts with nutrition by oxidizing sulfur. Surprisingly, they found that this partnership originated once, from a single ciliate ancestor and a single bacterial ancestor, although a whole ocean separates the sampling sites. Source:Phys

Pause to read the traffic sign: Regulation of DNA transcription in bacteria

One of the central tenets of biology is that information flows from DNA to RNA in order to encode proteins, which function in the cell. Arguably just as critical as the genetic code is the timing of this information flow. By producing the right RNA and right proteins at the right time, a cell can effectively strategize its survival and success. One such regulatory element, the riboswitch, has excited interest as a potential target for antibiotics. After over 10 years of research, Scientists of Goethe University together with colleagues from other universities have put together the puzzle pieces of a riboswitch-based regulatory process in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, presenting the most extensive model of the timing of riboswitch action to date. Source:Phys

New Antibiotic Resistance Genes Found in Soil Microbes

Farm soil harbors abundant genes related to antibiotic resistance in microbes, including some that have never been identified in human pathogens, according to a study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Researchers identified novel gene products, including peptides and enzymes, which can provide resistance to classes of antibiotics used to combat a range of bacterial infections, including those that cause strep throat and chlamydia. Source:The scientist

Study: Microbes from Young Fish Extend Older Fish’s Lives

Turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) hit old age after just a couple of months, but scientists have found a way to extend their brief lives. They replaced the gut bacteria of middle-aged fish with microbial species present in younger fish, getting the microbial transplant recipients to live about a month longer. Source: The scientist

Number of Bacterial and Archaeal Type Strains Doubled

In an effort led by US Department of Energy (DOE) scientists at the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), an international research team released 1,003 novel bacterial and archaeal reference genomes, doubling the volume of existing bacterial type strains and boosting their known microbial phylogenetic diversity by about 24 percent, according to a study published in Nature Biotechnology. Source: The scientist

Ancient Protein Helps E. coli Thwart Viral Attack

Resurrecting ancient proteins in modern E. coli can protect the bacterium from viral infection, scientists reported. Researchers from Spain engineered the genetic sequences that code for ancestral forms of the protein thioredoxin, including one that would have existed about 4 billion years ago and found that not only did the old protein function in the cells, but when these bacteria were exposed to the bacteriophage T7, they fended off viral infection. Source: The scientist

Antibiotic-resistant microbes date back to 450 million years ago, well before the age of dinosaurs

According to a new study led by researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear, the Harvard-wide Program on Antibiotic Resistance and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, "superbugs" known as the enterococci, arose from an ancestor that dates back 450 million years about the time when animals were first crawling onto land (and well before the age of dinosaurs). Published in the journal Cell, the study authors shed light on the evolutionary history of these pathogens, which evolved nearly indestructible properties and have become leading causes of modern antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals. Source: phys

Pathogenic bacteria train their defence in lakes and oceans

Peter Mathisen at Umeå University has found links between the aquatic environment and the spreading of diseases such as tularaemia. The results indicate that aquatic environments act as "gyms" for bacteria, where the presence of predators train their defense against being killed and eaten up. The results are important for assessments of aquatic environments at risk of spreading pathogenic bacteria. Source: phys

Bioinspired agent kills drug-resistant bacteria

Researchers in Ireland have developed a bioinspired antimicrobial treatment that can rapidly kill drug-resistant bacteria. The treatment consists of iodo-thiocyanate complexes, which are inspired by enzymes and reactive molecules produced by our immune system. Source: phys

Gut bacteria tell the brain what animals should eat

Neuroscientists have, for the first time, shown that gut bacteria "speak" to the brain to control food choices in animals. In a study published in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology, researchers had identified two species of bacteria that have an impact on animal dietary decisions. The investigation was led by Carlos Ribeiro, and colleagues from the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal and Monash University, Australia. Source: phys

Venus' hair found growing on the surface of underwater volcano after eruption

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Spain and Italy studying the aftermath of the eruption of the Tagoro underwater volcano in 2011 and 2012 has found that colonies of bacteria living in filaments attached to the volcano surface (named Thiolava veneris which is Lation for Venus hair) were the first organisms to colonize the volcano after the eruption. Source: phys

Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting biodegradable solution to plastic pollution

Scientists have found that a caterpillar commercially bred for fishing bait has the ability to biodegrade polyethylene: one of the toughest and most used plastics frequently found clogging up landfill sites in the form of plastic shopping bags. Source: phys

Bacteriophages, natural drugs to combat superbugs

Viruses that specifically kill bacteria, called bacteriophages, might one day help solve the growing problem of bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotic treatment. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center have determined that phages can effectively reduce bacterial levels and improve the health of mice that are infected with deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacterial 'superbugs.' Source: phys

Using rooster testes to learn how the body fights viruses

Our bodies are constantly under siege by foreign invaders; viruses, bacteria and parasites that want to infiltrate our cells. Using rooster testes, scientists shed light on how germ cells, sperm and egg, protect themselves from viruses so that they can pass accurate genetic information to the next generation. The findings could help researchers better fight viruses in chickens and in people. Credit: University of Rochester Medical Center. Source: phys

Young human blood makes old mice smarter

A protein found in young human blood plasma can improve brain function in old mice. The finding was published in Nature. It is the first time a human protein has been shown to have this effect. It is also the latest evidence that infusions of ‘young blood’ can reverse symptoms of ageing, including memory loss, decrease in muscle function and metabolism, and loss of bone structure. Source: nature

Prehistoric ancestor of leukaemia virus found in bats

Ancient DNA traces from the family of viruses that cause a rare type of leukaemia have been found in the genomes of bats, filling the "last major gap" in retrovirus fossil record. The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was conducted by the University of Glasgow and The Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, offered conclusive evidence that these viruses are between 20 and 45 million years old. The findings represented the first concrete piece of evidence that the 'Deltaretrovirus' group had a truly ancient origin in mammals. The results also offer key insights to the characteristics of these viruses and would allow scientists to better understand them in the future. Source: phys

A light rain can spread soil bacteria far and wide, study finds

A good rain can have a cleansing effect on the land. But an MIT study published in Nature Communications reports that, under the right conditions, rain can also be a means of spreading bacteria. Using high-resolution imaging, researchers from MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering observed the effect of raindrops falling on dry soil laden with bacteria. When falling at speeds mimicking those of a light rain, at temperatures similar to those in tropical regions, the drops released a spray of mist, or aerosols. Each aerosol carried up to several thousand bacteria from the soil. The researchers found the bacteria remained alive for more than an hour afterward. Source: phys

Zika may be spread by 35 species of mosquitoes, researchers say

Zika may be spread by as many as 35 species of mosquitoes, including seven found in the United States, according to a predictive model created by University of Georgia ecologists and published Tuesday in the journal, eLife. Source: phys

New tool for combating mosquito-borne disease: Insect parasite genes

Wolbachia is the most successful parasite the world has ever known. You've never heard of it because it only infects bugs: millions upon millions of species of insects, spiders, centipedes and other arthropods all around the globe. The secret to the over-achieving bacterium's success is its ability to hijack its hosts' reproduction. Biologists have known that Wolbachia have had this power for more than 40 years but only now have teams of biologists from Vanderbilt and Yale Universities identified the specific genes that confer this remarkable capability. Source: phys

Retroviruses 'almost half a billion years old'

Retroviruses - the family of viruses that includes HIV - are almost half a billion years old, according to new research by scientists at Oxford University. That's several hundred million years older than previously thought and suggests retroviruses have ancient marine origins, having been with their animal hosts through the evolutionary transition from sea to land. Source: phys

Secret new weapon of insect-transmitted viruses exposed

Secret new weapon of insect-transmitted viruses exposed. The scientists uncovered molecular mechanisms that the cucumber mosaic virus uses to manipulate plants to make them release odors that attract aphids, which transmit the virus. The work was published Jan. 6 in the journal Cell Research. Source: phys

New insights into 'master regulator' of cell division overturn textbook explanation

An image of fission yeast cells in the process of cell division. Fission yeast cells are related to human cells but are much simpler, making experiments faster and easier to interpret. Importantly, many of the key discoveries in cell biology occur in yeast before being confirmed in humans. Credit: The Francis Crick Institute. Source: phys

Scientists crack the structure of HIV machinery

Salk Institute scientists have solved the atomic structure of a key piece of machinery that allows HIV to integrate into human host DNA and replicate in the body, which has eluded researchers for decades. The findings describing this machinery, known as the "intasome," appear January 6, 2017, in Science and yield structural clues informing the development of new HIV drugs. Source: phys

Researchers discover new mechanism for Type IV pili retraction in Vibrio cholera

How single-celled organisms navigate to oxygen

A team of researchers have discovered that tiny clusters of single-celled organisms that inhabit the world's oceans and lakes, are capable of navigating their way to oxygen. Writing in e-Life scientists at the University of Cambridge describe how choanaflagellates, the closest relatives of animals, form small colonies that can sense a large range of concentrations of oxygen in the water. The research offers clues as to how these organisms evolved into multi-cellular ones. Source: phys

Skin bacteria could protect against disease

There are more and more examples of the ways in which we can benefit from our bacteria. According to researcher Rolf Lood from Lund University in Sweden, this is true for the skin as well. He has shown that the most common bacteria on human skin secrete a protein which protects us from the reactive oxygen species thought to contribute to several skin diseases. The protein has an equally strong effect on dangerous oxygen species as known antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E. Source: phys

Low-fibre diet puts gut at risk

Eric Martens at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor and Mahesh Desai, now at the Luxembourg Institute of Health, together with their colleagues, compared the effects of fibre-poor and fibre-rich diets in mice that lacked their own bacteria and were given a mix of 14 species of human gut bacteria. These microbes normally consume carbohydrates from dietary fibre, but without these nutrients, the bacteria instead degraded the mucus barrier that lines the intestinal wall.Thinning of this protective layer (pictured as indicated by white arrows in the right panel; left panel shows normal layer) exposed the intestinal surface to attack by disease-causing bacteria. More than half of the mice eating a low-fibre diet lost at least 20% of their body weight after infection with the pathogen Citrobacter rodentium. Source: nature

The truth about the five-second rule, according to scientists

The ‘five-second rule’ – a folkloric guideline on the time it is considered safe to eat food dropped on the floor – has been debunked by a new study. Four different surfaces and food types were used in the experiment. Watermelon, bread, bread and butter, and gummy candy were dropped on surfaces of stainless steel, ceramic tile, wood and carpet for less than one second, five, 30 and 300 seconds. The surfaces were contaminated with a bacterium similar to salmonella. A total of 2,560 measurements were taken with all the different food, surface and time combinations. Source: independent

Bacteria behave differently on International Space Station

Altered Extracellular Model. Biomolecular model based on the gene expression data analyses support the reduction of glucose molecules (blue gradient) and acid buildup (gold gradient) proposed to occur in the boundary layer around the cell. This altered extracellular environment has been hypothesized to result as an effect of reduced gravity-driven forces acting on the cell-fluid system and has been put forth as the biophysical mechanism governing bacterial behavior in space. Blue circles indicate overexpression of genes associated with metabolism, while gold circles represent the overexpression of acidic condition genes. Source: sciencedaily

Fungi boost bacterium

Benjamin Wolfe at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and his colleagues examined the relative abundance of Staphylococcus bacteria (three species pictured), which are common in cheese. They found that Staphylococcus equorum dominated, despite being the slowest grower in lab tests. In the presence of fungi of the genus Scopulariopsis, S. equorum lowered its expression of genes involved in iron uptake and metabolism. The fungi could be providing the bacterium with freely available iron needed for growth, saving S. equorum the effort of acquiring and processing the nutrient, and allowing it to outcompete other bacteria. Fungi could be influencing the diversity of other bacterial communities, including those in humans, the authors say. Source: fems

Engineers design a new weapon against bacteria

A team of researchers at MIT, the University of Brasilia, and the University of British Columbia has now engineered an antimicrobial peptide that can destroy many types of bacteria, including some that are resistant to most antibiotics. Source: sciencedaily

HOOKED

Marinomonas primoryensis (about 1.5µm in length without the flagellum) latches onto ice floes in the Antarctic Ocean. Source: the-scientist

Ancient microbe fossils show earliest evidence of shell making

Roughly 809-million-year-old microbe fossils, such as this one found in Canada, may be the oldest evidence of organisms creating minerals for protection against predators. The shells take many shapes, including this honeycomb pattern. Source: sciencenews

The Seaweed Holobiont

The oxygen generated via photosynthesis by the seaweed and the presence of a source of carbon-rich constituents from macroalgal cell walls, turn the algae’s surface into a good microenvironment for a bunch of different microorganisms. Source: fems

Amazing world of Microbes: Some Unbelievable facts about Microorganisms

Beef tapeworm is the largest parasite (which causes taeniasis in human), which can easily grow 7½ meters or 25 feet long!. Source: microbeonline

New analysis of big data sheds light on cell functions

Researchers have developed a new way of obtaining useful information from big data in biology to better understand—and predict—what goes on inside a cell. Using genome-scale models, researchers were able to integrate multiple different data sets and discovered new biological patterns among different cellular processes. The research, led by bioengineers at the University of California San Diego, was published online Oct. 26 in Nature Communications. Source: phys

Computers learn to spot deadly bacteria

Machine learning can predict strains of bacteria likely to cause food poisoning outbreaks, research has found. The study -- which focused on harmful strains of E. coli bacteria -- could help public health officials to target interventions and reduce risk to human health. The researchers used software that compares genetic information from bacterial samples isolated from both animals and people. Source: Phys

More than 7 million bacterial genes in the pig gut

Poisonous, cancer-fighting, glow-in-the-dark 'ghost fungus' enchants Border photographers

In the dead of night at the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, an elusive glow-in-the-dark fungus has been enchanting photographers. Source: britmycolsoc

New technique shows protein changes in intact microbial communities

By looking at how microbial proteins are modified over time, scientists can begin to understand changes in the broader community. The protein changes, or post-translational modifications (PTMs), occur in response to a sensed environmental cue. These alterations create rippling signal cascades, often leading to pervasive changes in the organism's growth and behavior. Although scientists have studied this regulatory mechanism extensively in individual organisms, its role at the scale of a complex community remains poorly understood. A new technique resulting from this study allows PTM analysis in proteins collected from an intact microbial community. This type of analysis allows scientists to link PTMs to larger, community-scale attributes that can be readily identified. They can translate these attributes into broader changes in biological processes in different environments. Source: Phys

Bacteria supply their allies with munitions

Discovery of an ape virus in an Indonesian rodent species

The gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) is a medically important tool in cancer therapies. GALV is a retrovirus pathogenic to its host species, the southeast Asian lar gibbon (Hylobates lar) and thought to have originated from a cross-species transmission and may not originally be a primate virus at all. An international research team screened a wide range of rodents from southeast Asia for GALV-like sequences. The discovery of a new GALV in the grassland melomys (Melomys burtoni) from Indonesian New Guinea supports the hypothesis that this host species, and potentially related rodent lineages in Australia and Papua New Guinea, may have played a key role in the spread of GALV-like viruses. Source: sciencedaily

Researchers succeed in developing a genome editing technique that does not cleave DNA

A research team has succeeded in developing 'Target-AID', a genome editing technique that does not cleave the DNA. The technique offers, through high-level editing operation, a method to address the existing issues of genome editing. It is expected that the technique will be applied to gene therapy in the future in addition to providing a powerful tool for breeding useful organisms and conducting disease and drug-discovery research. Source: sciencedaily

Vibrio cholerae swimming in the gut of a live zebrafish

The growing interest in the trillions of bacteria that live inside our guts is underlined by the more than 10,000 people who read the recent PLOS Biology essay by Diana Bojanova and Seth Bordenstein – "Fecal Transplants: What is being transferred?" – in its first two weeks. But why just imagine these swarming denizens of your GI tract when you could actually watch them? Source: Phys

Researchers uncover the mechanism that triggers host plant resistance against parasitic plants

There exist more than 4,500 plant species that live as parasites on other plants. Some of them cause great damage to agriculture, even leading to the complete failure of crops. Researchers working with Dr Markus Albert at the University of Tübingen's Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP) and collaborators from the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich (Professor Cyril Zipfel, Matthew Smoker) have been investigating the ways in which some species defend themselves against such parasites. They looked at various tomato cultivars that can prevent the dodder parasite from latching onto them. The scientists discovered a gene in the tomato that enabled the plant to recognize the dodder and trigger an innate immune mechanism. Up to now, that kind of defense mechanism had only been observed against microbial pathogens, insects and arachnids. The results suggest that it may be possible to better protect crops against plant parasites. Source: Phys

Bacteria avoid age defects through collective behaviour

As they age, more and more defects arise in most organisms. Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have discovered that microorganisms like bacteria can keep a colony young by practicing a common strategy for propagation. The same may be true for, for example, stem cells in humans. The results have been published in the scientific journal Cell Systems. Source: Phys

Rare fungus product reduces resistance to antibiotics

Fungus a possible precursor of severe respiratory diseases in pigs

Respiratory diseases in pigs typically involve multiple infections from different pathogens. Some pathogens play a greater role than others in the progression of the disease. The fungus Pneumocystis carinii is a relatively common cause of pneumonia in Austrian pigs, but its role has so far remained largely unexplored. Pneumocystis is considered to be less dangerous than other pathogens, as it probably requires other underlying conditions to sufficiently weaken the immune defence of the animals first. Source: Phys

Antibody double trouble for HIV

Bacterium could curb malaria

Addressing antibiotic resistance: Breath analysis aims to reduce unnecessary prescriptions

Magic mushroom drug lifts depression in human trial

A hallucinogenic drug derived from magic mushrooms could be useful in treating depression, the first safety study of this approach has concluded. Source: scientificamerican

White House goes big on microbiome research

The US government is launching an effort to study the vast, and mostly invisible, array of microorganisms that thrive in the human body and across ecosystems. Source: nature

Bacteria, not fungi, behind dandruff severity: study

A team from Japan and China found dandruff, which afflicts around half the world’s population, is more strongly linked to populations of two bacterial groups – Propionibacterium and Staphylococcus – than the Malassezia fungus, which also happily colonises the human scalp and is widely believed to be the main cause of the condition. Source: cosmosmagazine

Orange Penicillium: a new fungus among us

Distinguished by the bright orange color it displays when produced in colonies, this fungus was named as a tribute to the Dutch royal family, specifically His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange. It was reported in a journal published by the National Herbarium of the Netherlands. The newcomer was isolated from soil in Tunisia. This species also produces a sheet-like extra-cellular matrix that may function as protection from drought. Source: esf

Bacteria are individualists

No two bacteria are identical – even when they are genetically the same. A new study from researchers from Eawag, ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne, and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen reveals the conditions under which bacteria become individualists and how they help their group grow when times get tough. Source: phys

Your gut bacteria are more than what you eat

Like it or not, the microbes in and on our bodies play a big role in human health and disease. Yet we still don’t know what determines the exact makeup of these invisible communities and how they vary within populations. Now, two large-scale studies show that factors once thought to be critical, such as natural versus cesarean birth, breastfeeding, or body mass index, don't matter as much as researchers had thought. Instead, medication—including heartburn medicine, antibiotics, and statins—breathing efficiency, stool consistency, and age all correlated better with microbiome composition, the two groups report today in Science. Even chocolate consumption has an effect. Source: sciencemag

Probiotics stop menopause-like bone loss in mice

E. Coli: A "Model Organism" From Theodor Escherich's Legacy

Findings from the Gut—New Insights into the Human Microbiome

People who like milk chocolate have slightly different microbes in their intestines than those who prefer their chocolate dark, although researchers do not know why. Significant differences in the so-called microbiome are also found in individuals based on whether or not they eat a lot of fiber or take certain medications—such as the diabetes drug metformin, female hormones or antihistamines. Source: scientificamerican

Devastating wheat fungus appears in asia for the first time

Fields are ablaze in Bangladesh, as farmers struggle to contain Asia’s first outbreak of a fungal disease that periodically devastates crops in South America. Plant pathologists warn that wheat blast could spread to other parts of south and southeast Asia, and are hurrying to trace its origins. Source: scientificamerican

A single-celled organism capable of learning

For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that an organism devoid of a nervous system is capable of learning. Biologists have succeeded in showing that a single-celled organism, the protist, is capable of a type of learning called habituation. This discovery throws light on the origins of learning ability during evolution, even before the appearance of a nervous system and brain. It may also raise questions as to the learning capacities of other extremely simple organisms such as viruses and bacteria. Source: sciencedaily

Entrancing animated trading cards reveal the surprising beauty of viruses

Viruses can be scary, but they’re beautiful. Take adenovirus type 5, colloquially known as the common cold. You can’t see the virus with the naked eye, of course, but a microscope reveals a hypnotic icosahedral structure. It’s big (for a virus), and sports a spike at each vertex that helps it stick to target cells. The form follows function, which in this case, means infiltrating the cells of a host and hijacking their replication machinery. Source: wired

Animation: Developing immunological memory

Pandemic E. coli strain H30 cloaks its stealth strategies

The difficulty in subduing the pandemic strain of drug-resistant E. coli, called H30, may go beyond patient vulnerability or antibiotic resistance. This form of the disease-pathogen may have an intrinsic ability to cause persistent, harmful, even deadly infections. Source: medicalxpress

Deadly animal prion disease appears in Europe

A highly contagious and deadly animal brain disorder has been detected in Europe for the first time. Scientists are now warning that the single case found in a wild reindeer might represent an unrecognized, widespread infection. Source: nature

Discovery of enzyme in the sleeping sickness parasite streamlines drug development

Researchers from Umeå University in Sweden have discovered that the single-celled parasite causing African sleeping sickness has a defence mechanism against potential pharmaceuticals under development against the disease. The deadly parasite has an enzyme that can cleave and hence disarm adenosine analogue pharmaceuticals. This according to a study recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Source: eurekalert

Tuberculosis bacteria build 'edible' havens in immune cells

Immune Influence

Although the details of this microbe-cancer link remain unclear, investigators suspect that the microbiome’s ability to modulate inflammation and train immune cells to react to tumors is to blame. Here are some of the hypotheses that have come out of recent research in rodents for how gut bacteria shape immunity and influence cancer. Source: the scientist

Algae enlisted to produce biofuel using discarded papayas

USA Algae are the star players in an effort by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in Hilo, Hawaii, to produce a renewable source of oil for conversion into biodiesel to help meet the island state's energy needs. Source: news

Newly identified cell explosions involved in bacterial secretion, adherence

A multinational research team has discovered an explosive cell lysis mechanism of bacteria controlled by a phage-related enzyme that releases cell-derived public goods and is activated by stress. The researchers found that explosive cell lysis also contributed to membrane vesicle formation, which helps determine bacterial virulence. These findings further help understanding of how bacteria control their environment and interact as communities. This could aid the development of growth inhibition techniques. Source: sciencedaily

Can a Bottle Made From Algae End the World's Plastic Addiction?

It started as a homework assignment for a college class, but the biodegradable, algae-based container 32-year-old product design student Ari Jónsson ended up creating has the potential to shake up the plastic water bottle industry. Source: takepart

Tissue-damaging fungal toxin discovered in pioneering study

Throughout evolution, pathogens have come up with many tricks to infect and damage their hosts: viruses capture whole cells and turn them into factories for their own replication until the cells are exhausted and die. Infectious bacteria produce multiple molecules that can manipulate the host cell's metabolism or simply destroy it. But what about human pathogenic fungi?. Source: phys

Reprogramming gut bacteria as “living therapeutics”

Based on research by its co-founders, MIT professors Tim Lu and Jim Collins, Synlogic creates so-called synthetic biotics, which sense and correct metabolic abnormalities that underlie some major diseases and rare genetic disorders. Source: news

Malaria family tree has bird roots

Extensive testing of malarial DNA found in birds, bats and other small mammals from five East African countries revealed that malaria has its roots in bird hosts. It then spread from birds to bats and on to other mammals. Source: sciencedaily

World TB Day 2016: Treating TB faster

Researchers at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL are working on projects to tackle different forms of tuberculosis (TB) with shorter treatment programmes. The STREAM project is looking at multidrug-resistant TB, the TRUNCATE project is looking at drug sensitive TB, and the SHINE project is investigating new, shorter treatments for children with TB. Source: insight

FDA Says Deploying Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Is Environmentally Safe

U.S. health regulators said a genetically engineered mosquito being used in the fight against Zika will not have a significant impact on the environment, possibly paving the way for the technique to be used in the country. Source: Scientificamerican

Landmark editorial identifies microbes as major cause of Alzheimer's disease

A worldwide team of senior scientists and clinicians have come together to produce an editorial which indicates that certain microbes - a specific virus and two specific types of bacteria—are major causes of Alzheimer's disease. Their paper, which has been published online in the highly regarded peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Alzheimer's disease, stresses the urgent need for further research—and more importantly, for clinical trials of anti-microbial and related agents to treat the disease. Source: medicalxpress

Urinary Tract Infection: How Bacteria Nestle in

Viral ‘fossils’ in our DNA may help us fight infection

You are up to 8% virus, at least as far as your genome is concerned. Up to 100,000 pieces of ancient viral DNA live among our genes, yet their function—if any—has long been unclear. A new study suggests that some of this foreign genetic material may boost our immune systems, even protecting us from other viruses. Source: scienmag

'Humble little fungus' is oldest known land fossil

The fungus, which dates back 440 million years, spent its life under the ground rotting down matter. Source: BBC

New bacterial pump could be used to remove cesium from the environment by light

The NITech-led team, in collaboration with colleagues at The University of Tokyo, successfully induced a molecular pump found in bacteria to transport cesium. The process simply requires the presence of light to make it function. The finding could pave the way for a new means of extracting cesium from the environment, potentially speeding up decontamination efforts following the radioactive fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. Source: scienmag

CRISPR-like ‘immune’ system discovered in giant virus

Gigantic mimiviruses fend off invaders using defences similar to the CRISPR system deployed by bacteria and other microorganisms, French researchers report1. They say that the discovery of a working immune system in a mimivirus bolsters their claim that the giant virus represents a new branch in the tree of life. Source: Nature

ToRCH Profile IgM, Serum

New RNA letter regulates gene expression

A new study finds that RNA, considered the DNA template for protein translation, often appears with an extra letter -- and this letter is the regulatory key for control of gene expression. The discovery offers insight into different RNA functions in cellular processes and contributions to the development of disease. Source: sciencedaily

The Lost and Found Fungi project

Brian Douglas describes how the Lost and Found Fungi project at Kew aims to help develop British fungal conservation, by trying to find out which “lost” species are truly extinct and which species are simply under-recorded due to lack of survey work. Source: cell

Food Testing Start-Up Looks to Stand Out With a New Wrinkle

Nothing unnerves consumers more and drives them away from a restaurant, food or beverage faster than a flurry of headlines about people being sickened by dreaded bacteria like E. coli or listeria. Source: nytimes

Lithium battery catalyst found to harm key soil microorganism

The material at the heart of the lithium ion batteries that power electric vehicles, laptop computers and smartphones has been shown to impair a key soil bacterium. The study is an early signal that the growing use of the new nanoscale materials used in the rechargeable batteries that power portable electronics and electric and hybrid vehicles may have untold environmental consequences. Source: sciencedaily

Alcohol also damages the liver by allowing bacteria to infiltrate

Alcohol itself can directly damage liver cells. Now researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report evidence that alcohol is also harmful to the liver for a second reason—it allows gut bacteria to migrate to the liver, promoting alcohol-induced liver disease. The study, conducted in mice and in laboratory samples, is published February 10 in Cell Host & Microbe. Source: cell

Extracellular Vesicles from Trypanosoma brucei Mediate Virulence Factor Transfer and Cause Host Anemia

Intercellular communication between parasites and with host cells provides mechanisms for parasite development, immune evasion, and disease pathology. Bloodstream African trypanosomes produce membranous nanotubes that originate from the flagellar membrane and disassociate into free extracellular vesicles (EVs). Source: cell

Ganoderma lucidum reduces obesity in mice by modulating the composition of the gut microbiota

S. aureus Can Spread from Blood to Eye, Endangering Vision

Zika Virus Threatens U.S. from Abroad

To protect patient privacy the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined to provide the locations of Zika cases in the U.S. but that information is available from state health departments. Until recently state health officials did not require physicians and hospitals to report Zika virus disease, so it is possible that some cases may have not been captured by state records. These maps represent the most comprehensive U.S. data available to date. Scientific American will continue to update them as more U.S. Zika cases are confirmed and their histories evolve. Source: Scientific American

More Evidence Emerges for "Transmissible Alzheimer's" Theory

For the second time in four months, researchers have reported autopsy results that suggest Alzheimer’s disease might occasionally be transmitted to people during certain medical treatments—although scientists say that neither set of findings is conclusive. Source: Scientific American

Impact of human activity on local climate mapped

A new study pinpoints the temperature increases caused by carbon dioxide emissions in different regions around the world. Source: Sciencedaily

Does our Microbiome Control Us or Do We Control It?

We may be able to keep our gut in check after all. That’s the tantalizing finding from a new study published today that reveals a way that mice—and potentially humans—can control the makeup and behavior of their gut microbiome. Such a prospect upends the popular notion that the complex ecosystem of germs residing in our guts essentially acts as our puppet master, altering brain biochemistry even as it tends to our immune system, wards off infection and helps us break down our supersized burger and fries. Source: Scientific American