Bacteria News and Research

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Abundance of Oral Microbes Is Strongly Influenced by Genetics

No matter how much they brush their teeth, some people still get more cavities than others, in part because of differences in genetics and the make-up of the microbes in their mouths.

29 Jan 2026

Rice Researchers Create Accurate 3D Structures of Chromosomes Using FI-Chrom Method

Chromosomes are masters of organization. These long strings of DNA fold down into an ensemble of compact structures that keep needed parts of the genome accessible while tucking away those that aren't used as often.

28 Jan 2026

Melbourne Scientists Use AI to Tame CRISPR

Last year a ten-month old baby in the US was the first person in the world to have their rare genetic disease effectively cured through the use of CRISPR gene editing technology.

27 Jan 2026

Gut Bacteria Use Protein Injection to Influence Human Immune System

Bacteria in the human gut can directly deliver proteins into human cells, actively shaping immune responses.

27 Jan 2026

Prehistoric Genome Pushes Back Origins of Treponemal Diseases in the Americas

Scientists have recovered a genome of Treponema pallidum – the bacterium whose subspecies today are responsible for four treponemal diseases, including syphilis – from 5,500-year-old human remains in Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia.

24 Jan 2026

Symbiotic Bacteria Use Flagella to Drill Through Tight Biological Passages

How can bacteria squeeze through spaces narrower than a human hair is thick? A research team in Japan led by Dr. Daisuke Nakane and Dr. Tetsuo Kan at the University of Electro-Communications, Dr. Hirofumi Wada at Ritsumeikan University, and Dr. Yoshitomo Kikuchi at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology have revealed the answer: they drill their way through.

24 Jan 2026

Trojan Horse Drug Works in Combination With Copper to Kill Bacteria

A research team at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson is developing a drug that works in combination with copper to kill bacteria, including those that cause MRSA, a type of staph infection that is resistant to usual treatments.

24 Jan 2026

Early Social Life Influences Infant Gut Bacteria

Social interaction among babies in their first year of life influences and enriches the diversity of their gut microbial strains, based on the findings of a study on microbiome transmission.

22 Jan 2026

First Fully Synthetic Bacteriophage Engineering System for Antibiotic-Resistant Bacterium

Bacteriophages have been used therapeutically to treat infectious bacterial diseases for over a century.

21 Jan 2026

How Far-Red Light Stops Biofilms in Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Light is a fundamental signal affecting every form of life. Cycles of light and dark help set the biological clocks in organisms from unicellular bacteria to humans.

21 Jan 2026

Bacteria Use One Simple Strategy to Navigate Complex Worlds

Just like every other creature, bacteria have evolved creative ways of getting around. Sometimes this is easy, like swimming in open water, but navigating more confined spaces poses different challenges.

19 Jan 2026

A Hidden Nanomachine Behind Constant Cellular Secretion

Scientists uncover the tiny machine that delivers essential molecular packages to the cell surface, a fundamental activity for maintaining healthy cells.

19 Jan 2026

Unveiling How a Respiratory Bacterium Obtains Lipids and Targets Fatty Tissues

A multidisciplinary team has uncovered a key mechanism that allows the human bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae-responsible for atypical pneumonia and other respiratory infections-to obtain cholesterol and other essential lipids directly from the human body.

16 Jan 2026

Backyard Soil Bacterium Produces Antibiotic Built to Outsmart Resistance

Early in 2025, scientists discovered a promising new antibiotic in a soil sample from a lab technician's backyard.

16 Jan 2026

Intelectin-2: A Dual-Action Lectin Fortifies Gut Barrier and Fights Bacteria

The mucosal surfaces that line the body are embedded with defensive molecules that help keep microbes from causing inflammation and infections.

14 Jan 2026

Two-Faced Nanoparticles Restore Antibiotic Power Against Superbugs

Over the decades, many strains of disease-causing bacteria have evolved defenses to even the most potent antibiotics, setting off a growing health crisis.

14 Jan 2026

Marsupial Gut Microbiomes Show Diet Adaptations, Antibiotic Resistance Risks

Marsupials are a group of mammals that encompass many of Australia's most iconic animals, unique because of their geographically isolated evolution.

14 Jan 2026

New Enzyme and Bacteria Unlock Efficient Production of Healthy Sweetener

From saccharin in the 19th century to stevia and monk fruit in the 21st, researchers and the food industry have long sought a sweetener that delivers the taste of sugar without its drawbacks-excess calories, tooth decay, and heightened risk for obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes.

14 Jan 2026

New Technique Measures How Effectively Antibiotics Kill Bacteria

Drugs that act against bacteria are mainly assessed based on how well they inhibit bacterial growth under laboratory conditions.

12 Jan 2026

Scientists Discover Tug-of-War Mechanism Driving Bacteria Flagella Direction Switching

Scientists have uncovered a new explanation for how swimming bacteria change direction, providing fresh insight into one of biology's most intensively studied molecular machines.

12 Jan 2026