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Study reveals how two proteins enable drug-resistant MRSA bacterium to secrete toxins

Antimicrobial resistance represents one of the top 10 global public health threats according to the World Health Organization, and scientists have been scrambling to find new tools to cure the most deadly drug-resistant infections.

14 Feb 2023

Blastocystis can promote or disrupt gut health, study finds

The gut microbiota contains trillions of bacteria that can promote health or cause disease under different conditions.

14 Feb 2023

Researchers discover target enzyme for blast disease

A fungus that plagues rice crops worldwide gains entry to plant cells in a way that leaves it vulnerable to simple chemical blockers, a discovery that could lead to new fungicides to reduce the substantial annual losses of rice and other valuable cereals.

14 Feb 2023

Engineering a phage's DNA by introducing modified CRISPR-Cas machinery genes

Bacteriophages (or phages) are viruses that infect bacteria. They are the most abundant biological entity, and they can be found wherever bacteria live. To propagate themselves, phages inject their DNA into their bacterial hosts.

13 Feb 2023

Specific types of gut fungi play a role in infant weight gain and growth

Researchers in the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) at the University of Calgary in collaboration with the Canadian CHILD Study have found a link between the diversity, or number, of fungal species in the infant gut and the body-mass index (BMI) of infants.

10 Feb 2023

Novel compound curtails influenza virus replication

Viruses use the molecular repertoire of the host cell to replicate. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn, together with Japanese researchers, want to exploit this for the treatment of influenza.

10 Feb 2023

Elaborating three-dimensional coordination of cell-division site positioning in a cyanobacterium

Cyanobacteria are considered to be the earliest oxygenic photosynthetic organisms present on Earth, and they have played crucial roles in the progress of the environment and life on the planet. Today, cyanobacteria are still found extravagantly in several ecological niches.

9 Feb 2023

Differences in the gut microbiomes of people with ME/CFS revealed

Discrepancies in the gut microbiomes of people having myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) than those of healthy controls have been disclosed by newly performed research.

9 Feb 2023

Licorice leaf extract: A potential plant protectant for traditional and organic farming

Pesticides are successful in defending crop yield against plant infections, but the ecological damage to nontarget organisms has led to a struggle between conventional and organic farming methods.

9 Feb 2023

New arsenal in the fight against superbugs

RMIT scientists have created a new type of antibiotic that can be rapidly re-engineered to avoid resistance by dangerous superbugs.

8 Feb 2023

Understanding how tiny organisms thrive after wildfires

UC Riverside researchers have identified tiny organisms that not only survive but thrive during the first year after a wildfire. The findings could help bring land back to life after fires that are increasing in both size and severity.

8 Feb 2023

Analyzing the evolution of model organisms

A model organism used in laboratories for the past 100 years has evolved so extensively that it may no longer be fit for purpose.

8 Feb 2023

Researchers decipher how common environmental bacterium can digest complex waste

A common environmental bacterium, Comamonas testosteroni, could someday become nature's plastic recycling center.

7 Feb 2023

Chemosynthesis fuels ocean microbes in the darkest depths

A world first study reverses the idea that the bulk of life in the ocean is fuelled by photosynthesis via sunshine, revealing that many ocean microbes in fact get their energy from hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

7 Feb 2023

Keanumycins: An alternative in the fight against resistant fungi

Pseudomonas bacteria produce a potent antimicrobial natural product, according to scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI).

7 Feb 2023

New hexameric structure of the protein triggering antibiotic resistance discovered

All living organisms require DNA replication to ensure the genetic integrity of the following generation. On the other hand, bacteria have the ability to horizontally transfer genetic information to other bacteria.

6 Feb 2023

Study sheds light on why lung tumors do not respond well to immunotherapy

Immunotherapy -; drug treatment that stimulates the immune system to attack tumors -; works well against some types of cancer, but it has shown mixed success against lung cancer.

6 Feb 2023

Countering climate change with nanowires produced by bacteria

Rapid climate change poses a serious and immediate threat to life on Earth. As atmospheric methane traps heat 30 times more effectively than CO2, temperatures are rising as a result.

3 Feb 2023

Non-immunosuppressive strategy mitigates immune-mediated intestinal diseases

The severity of immune-mediated intestinal diseases like graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or inflammatory bowel disease is known to be associated with changes in the gut microbiome, but what causes such disruption in the microbial community is unknown.

3 Feb 2023