Synthetic Biology: Engineered Bacteria
Researchers have devised a way to attach sugars to proteins using unique biological and chemical methods. This means that large quantities of different glycoproteins can be generated for various medical and biological studies.
Bacteria divide like clockwork
Scientists have shown how cell division in a type of bacteria known as cyanobacteria is controlled by the same kind of circadian rhythms that govern human sleep patterns. Previous studies have shown that even though cyanobacteria do not "sleep" in the same way that humans do, they cycle through active and resting periods on a 24-hour schedule. Cyanobacteria depend on sunlight for photosynthesis, so they are most active during the day.
Manufacturing antibodies
New antibodies and recombinant proteins with a key signaling role in immune response to disease have been produced. The proteins have their own direct uses in immunization and are also the starting point for production of novel, highly specific antibodies with a wide range of biomedical applications.
Multifunctional polymer neutralizes both biological and chemical weapons
In an effort to mirror the ability of biological tissues to respond rapidly and appropriately to changing environments, scientists have synthesized a single, multifunctional polymer material that can decontaminate both biological and chemical toxins.
Fungi can change quickly, pass along infectious ability
Fungi have significant potential for "horizontal" gene transfer, a new study has shown, similar to the mechanisms that allow bacteria to evolve so quickly, become resistant to antibiotics and cause other serious problems.
An organic approach to pest control: releasing super-sexed (but sterile) male insects
An improved method for sustainable pest control using "super-sexed" but sterile male insects to copulate with female ones is being developed by agricultural researchers in Israel. The scientists thus hope to offer yet another efficient and promising avenue for supplying produce to the market by eliminating pests without damage to the environment.
New hand bacteria study holds promise for forensics identification
Forensic scientists may soon have a valuable new item in their toolkits -- a way to identify individuals using unique, telltale types of hand bacteria left behind on objects like keyboards and computer mice, says a new study.
New lentil being readied for market
"Essex," a new lentil variety has a lot to offer: high seed yields for growers, nitrogen-fixing bacteria for wheat crops, and a tasty source of protein for consumers to add to soups, salads and other fare.
New microscopy technique offers close-up, real-time view of cellular phenomena
For two decades, scientists have been pursuing a potential new way to treat bacterial infections, using naturally occurring proteins known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Now, scientists have recorded the first microscopic images showing the deadly effects of AMPs, most of which kill by poking holes in bacterial cell membranes.
Synergy between two types of de-worming drugs found promising in a lab test
Combining two types of anti-worm treatments that work in different ways could head off the development of drug resistance and save money by allowing lower doses of both drugs to be used.
Wine vine: Microscopic photography reveals bacteria destroying grape plant cell wall
Like a band of detectives surveying the movement of a criminal, researchers using photographic technology have caught at least one culprit in the act. In this case, electron microscopy was used to watch a deadly bacteria breakdown cell walls in wine grape plants -- an image that previously had not been witnessed.
Barrier in mosquito midgut protects invading pathogens
Scientists studying the Anopheles gambiae mosquito have found that the act of feeding triggers two enzymes to form a protective barrier that prevents the mosquito's immune defense system from clearing disease-causing agents that can be passed on to humans. Disrupting the protein barrier can trigger mosquito immune defenses to intervene and protect the insect from infection. This finding could inform new strategies for blocking malaria transmission.
New defenses deployed against plant diseases
Researchers have transferred broad spectrum resistance against some important plant diseases across different plant families. The breakthrough provides a new way to produce crops with sustainable resistance to economically important diseases.
Production of chemicals from wood waste made more environmentally-friendly and cheaper
Researchers have discovered that the bacterium Cupriavidus basilensis breaks down harmful by-products which are produced when sugars are released from wood. They also managed to incorporate the degradation process in bacteria which are in common industrial use. This breakthrough does away with the need to resort to costly and environmentally unfriendly methods for removing by-products, thereby boosting the appeal of waste wood as a sustainable resource for biochemicals and biofuels.
Potential for using algae to produce human therapeutic proteins shown
Pharmaceutical companies could substantially reduce the expense of costly treatments for cancer and other diseases produced from mammalian or bacterial cells by growing these human therapeutic proteins in algae -- rapidly growing aquatic plant cells that have recently gained attention for their ability to produce biofuels.
Emerging tick-borne disease
A new assay allows scientists to discover whether ticks are carrying disease-causing bacteria and which animals provided their last blood meal. Assay results suggest three emerging diseases in the St. Louis area are carried by lone star ticks feeding on record-high populations of white tailed deer.
Molecular basis for Pseudomonas aeruginosa persistent infections in CF patients
New research reveals Small Colony Variants (SCVs) of P. aeruginosa to be a hallmark of chronic infection in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Results suggest that SCV-mediated persistence might be a good target for antimicrobial chemotherapy.
Discovery in legumes could reduce fertilizer use, aid environment
Escalating use of nitrogen fertilizer is increasing algal blooms and global warming, but a recent discovery by researchers could begin to reverse that. They have revealed a key step in how symbiotic bacteria living in legumes turn nitrogen into plant food, which could be used to improve the process in some plants, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.
Campylobacter bacteria in cattle manure may survive composting
Contrary to popular belief, some disease causing bacteria may actually survive the composting process. Researchers report that campylobacter bacteria in cattle manure can survive composting and persist for long periods in the final product.
Intestinal bacteria drive obesity and metabolic disease in immune-altered mice
Mice lacking a gene called TLR5 have an altered ability to recognize and control bacteria in their intestines, leading them to develop obesity and insulin resistance, which is often referred to as "pre-diabetes." The bacteria appear to influence appetite and metabolism rather than how well calories are absorbed. Obesity and insulin resistance can be transferred from TLR5-deficient mice via intestinal bacteria.
How ocean bacterium turns carbon into fuel
Researchers have uncovered details about how cyanobacteria, one of the most abundant organisms on Earth, digest carbon. These bacteria build miniature factories inside themselves that turn carbon into fuel. A new study shows the bacteria organize these factories spatially, lining them up in a neat row, revealing a structural sophistication not often seen in single-celled organisms.
Biogenic insecticides decoded
Researchers have discovered a new mode of action of insecticidal toxins from Photorhabdus luminescens, a bacterium which lives in a symbiotic relationship with nematodes. The tiny worms enter insect larvae through natural openings, where they proceed to "cough up" the bacteria. Bacterial toxins produced by the light-emitting bacteria kill the insect larvae, thus creating a larger reservoir of nourishment for the proliferation of nematodes and bacteria. For this reason, the worms and their bacteria are often used as biogenic insecticides.
Newly engineered enzyme is a powerful staph antibiotic
With their best chemical antibiotics slowly failing, scientists are increasingly looking to nature for a way to control deadly staph bacteria -- the culprit behind most hospital infections. Naturally toxic for bacteria, enzymes called lysins have the promising ability to obliterate staph, but the problem is producing large enough quantities of them to study how they work. Scientists have now overcome this barrier by engineering a lysin that not only kills multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in mice, but also works synergistically with traditional antibiotics that have long been shelved due to resistance.
Bacterial balance keeps us healthy: Microbial genes in gut outnumber genes in human body
The thousands of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live in our gut are essential contributors to our good health. They break down toxins, manufacture some vitamins and essential amino acids, and form a barrier against invaders. A new study shows that, at 3.3 million, microbial genes in our gut outnumber previous estimates for the whole of the human body.
Gene regulation: Can we stomach it? New technique fights against cause of peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer
A breakthrough in decoding gene regulation of Helicobacter pylori has been made by an international research team. Using a newly developed sequencing technique, the researchers discovered 60 small ribonucleic acids -- tiny RNA-particles which can regulate genes -- in the genome of this human pathogen. These findings could facilitate the development of new therapeutic strategies against this widespread pathogen.
How trauma leads to inflammatory response: Mitochondria may be at root of dangerous complications from injury
A new study suggests that mitochondria can be released into the bloodstream following physical injury, resulting in a sepsis-like immune response, and leading to the onset of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome.
Pesky aphid thrives despite weak immune system
Pea aphids, expert survivors of the insect world, appear to lack major biological defenses, according to the first genetic analysis of their immune system.
UK scientists devise worldwide food alert system
Countries producing food containing harmful bacteria and toxins could be named and shamed more quickly using a worldwide alert system devised by a team of scientists from the UK.
Assessing antibiotic breakdown in manure
Agricultural scientists are studying how oxytetracycline, an antibiotic that is administered to animals, breaks down in cattle manure.
Household bacteria for better cheese
A Norwegian dairy company is now planning an in-depth study that will find out whether household bacteria can be used for their own sake. When the dairy company makes cheese, it deliberately adds certain organisms to the raw milk. Others get there by chance and shape the end-product. But such games of chance will soon be a thing of the past.
Faster method to detect bacterial contamination in coastal waters developed
Currently, beachgoers are informed about water quality conditions based on results from the previous day's sample. Scientists must collect samples in the field, then return to a lab to culture them for analysis -- a process that takes a minimum of 24 hours. Now, engineers have sped up the process of analyzing bacterial concentrations to under one hour, through the development of a new in-field, rapid detection method.
Plant's ability to identify, block invading bacteria examined
Understanding how plants defend themselves from bacterial infections may help researchers understand how people and other animals could be better protected from such pathogens. That's the idea behind a study to observe a specific bacteria that infects tomatoes but normally does not bother the common laboratory plant arabidopsis.
Beewolves protect their offspring with antibiotics; digger wasp larvae use bacteria against infections
Beewolves house beneficial bacteria on their cocoons that guarantee protection against harmful microorganisms. Scientists have discovered that bacteria of the genus Streptomyces produce a cocktail of nine different antibiotics and thereby fend off invading pathogens. Using imaging techniques based on mass spectrometry, the antibiotics could be displayed on the cocoon's surface. Moreover, it was shown that the use of different kinds of antibiotics provides effective protection against infection with a multitude of different pathogenic microorganisms.
Scientists crash test DNA’s replication machinery
Enzymes that travel along DNA to copy or transcribe it -- the crucial processes underlying cell replication and protein production -- aren't coordinated by a central dispatcher. In fact, they often collide. Now, researchers have discovered that when DNA-copying machines run head-on into proteins performing less critical tasks, they kick the obstacles aside and continue on their way.
E. coli as sole indicator of water pollution questioned
New research investigating pathogen survival in soils has found that E. coli can become integrated into the indigenous microbial community in soils and survive for more than nine years, considerably longer than scientists initially thought.
Multiple sclerosis onset: Could mycobacteria play a role?
A non-pathogenic bacterium is capable to trigger an autoimmune disease similar to the multiple sclerosis in the mouse, the model animal which helps to explain how human diseases work. This is an unprecedented mechanism which could explain how this terrible central nervous system disease starts up in humans.
Scientists unlock key enzyme using newly created 'cool' method
Scientists -- using a new cooling method they created -- have uncovered the inner workings of a key iron-containing enzyme, a discovery that could help researchers develop new medicines or understand how enzymes repair DNA. Taurine/alpha-ketoglutarate dioxygenase, known as TauD, is a bacterial enzyme that is important in metabolism. Enzymes in this family repair DNA, sense oxygen and help produce antibiotics.
Interactions between species: Powerful driving force behind evolution?
Scientists in the UK have provided the first experimental evidence that shows that evolution is driven most powerfully by interactions between species, rather than adaptation to the environment.
Suffocating head lice works in new treatment
A new non-neurotoxic treatment for head lice has been found to have an average of 91.2 percent treatment success rate after one week, and to be safe in humans from six months of age and up.
Typhoid fever bacteria collect on gallstones to perpetuate disease
A new study suggests that the bacteria that cause typhoid fever collect in tiny but persistent communities on gallstones, making the infection particularly hard to fight in so-called "carriers" -- people who have the disease but show no symptoms. Humans who harbor these bacterial communities in their gallbladders, even without symptoms, are able to infect others with active typhoid fever, especially in developing areas of the world with poor sanitation.
Aphid's genome reflects its reproductive, symbiotic lifestyle
Aphids could be considered the "mosquitoes" of the plant world, depending on the "blood" of plants to survive. They live in symbiosis with bacteria that pass from one generation to the next, producing essential amino acids. Aphids with the same genotype can be wingless or winged. In different seasons, they develop as asexual females who produce offspring with identical genes through parthenogenesis. When temperatures drop, they can give birth to males who then fertilize the eggs laid by females. The genome of the pea aphid, sequenced by the International Aphid Genomics Consortium, reflects these unusual characteristics and more.
Mosquito genes yield secrets to how they survive malaria-causing parasite
Researchers are studying the main contributing mosquito species to malaria transmission in Africa. They are characterizing genes specific to mosquito blood cells. The researchers were able to identify genes in the blood cells whose expression changed with malaria infection. This could be used for disease control, ultimately. On a more basic level, the researchers are learning how the immune system works and how it recognizes a parasite and limits the infection.
Orange peels, newspapers may lead to cheaper, cleaner ethanol fuel
Scientists may have just made the breakthrough of a lifetime, turning discarded fruit peels and other throwaways into cheap, clean fuel to power the world's vehicles.
Biologists discover how biological clock controls cell division in bacteria
Biologists have unraveled the biochemistry of how bacteria so precisely time cell division, a key element in understanding how all organisms from bacteria to humans use their biological clocks to control basic cellular functions.
Potentially deadly infection linked to frequent cow exposure
A common bacteria found in many healthy adult females that can cause life-threatening infections when passed to newborns could be introduced to some women through frequent contact with cows, according to a new research. Group B streptococcus could be a zoonotic disease -- transmitted between different species -- which may have significant public health implications.
Flu-induced stress response is critical for resistance to secondary infection
A new study reveals how infection with the influenza virus impacts the way that the immune system responds to subsequent infections. The research provides a new understanding of the physiological and pathological consequences of the flu.
Scientists discover how protein trips up germs
If bad bacteria lurk in your system, chances are they will bump into the immune system's protective cells whose job is gobbling germs. The catch is that these do-gooders, known as macrophages, ingest and destroy only those infectious invaders that they can securely hook and reel in. Now, scientists have shown that a healthy immune response depends on a protein called TRPV2 which, they discovered, is the means by which macrophages capitalize on brief and accidental encounters with nasty bugs.
Protein found to be key in protecting the gut from infection
A signaling protein that is key in orchestrating the body's overall immune response has an important localized role in fighting bacterial infection and inflammation in the intestinal tract, according to a new study.

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