E. coli or Escherichia coli is the name of a type of bacteria that lives in your intestines. Most types of E. coli are harmless. However, some types can make you sick and cause diarrhea. One type causes travelers' diarrhea. The worst type of E. coli causes bloody diarrhea, and can sometimes cause kidney failure and even death. These problems are most likely to occur in children and in adults with weak immune systems. You can get E. coli infections by eating foods containing the bacteria. To help avoid food poisoning and prevent infection, handle food safely. Cook meat well, wash fruits and vegetables before eating or cooking them, and avoid unpasteurized milk and juices. You can also get the infection by swallowing water in a swimming pool contaminated with human waste. Most cases of E. coli infection get better without treatment in 5 to 10 days.
Synthetic biologists at Rice University are embarking on a three-year project to create "genetically encoded antibiotics," strands of RNA that bacteria will readily copy and share that will selectively kill only disease-causing, pathogenic bacteria.
The human intestine is an environment inhabited by many bacteria and other microorganisms collectively known as the gut microbiome, gut microbiota or intestinal flora. In most people, it contributes to wellness. A healthy gut indicates a stronger immune system, improved metabolism, and a healthy brain and heart, among other functions.
Combining discoveries in cancer immunology with sophisticated genetic engineering, Columbia University researchers have created a sort of "bacterial suicide squad" that targets tumors, attracting the host's own immune cells to the cancer to destroy it. The new work, published today in Science Advances, marks a major step forward in efforts to enlist non-pathogenic bacteria to combat cancer.
Genetic variations, such as mutations, recombinations, or transpositions occur naturally in cultured microorganisms and are often considered nonneutral mutations.
Shine a laser on a drop of blood, mucus, or wastewater, and the light reflecting back can be used to positively identify bacteria in the sample.
Water contaminated with bacteria poses a serious threat to global health. In the scientific publication Angewandte Chemie, a Chinese research team developed a simple new technique for disinfection.
A California policy restricting antibiotic use in animals raised for food is associated with a reduction in one type of antibiotic-resistant infection in people in the state, according to a new study published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
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.
RMIT scientists have created a new type of antibiotic that can be rapidly re-engineered to avoid resistance by dangerous superbugs.
A common environmental bacterium, Comamonas testosteroni, could someday become nature's plastic recycling center.
Pep-tRNAs, nascent polypeptides inside the ribosome that are covalently connected to transfer RNA, are engaged in a variety of cell processes, including gene expression, according to advances in molecular biology.
Taking a bold step into a new era of biology, a team of scientists from the University of California San Diego, the J. Craig Venter Institute and Yale University has been awarded $10 million by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to support research on using viruses as new therapeutic agents.
A transporter which some bacteria use to recycle fragments of their cell wall has been discovered by researchers at Umeå University, Sweden.
One of the most promising new antibiotic candidates in decades is a powerful plant toxin that harbors a novel way of killing hazardous bacteria.
Antibiotic resistance, which occurs when infection-causing bacteria evolve to the point where they are no longer affected by conventional antibiotics, is a worldwide concern.
An international research team has released important new information about what causes the emergence and spread of genes involved in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria.
Researchers at McMaster University have created a powerful new weapon against bacterial contamination and infection.
Researchers from North Carolina State University describe a variety of CRISPR-Cas systems-based molecular tools to rewrite, rather than just edit, significant portions of an organism’s DNA.
A common chemical present in the urine can be utilized to initiate large-scale production of proteins needed by biotech companies, like hormones and antibodies.
Membrane proteins are vital therapeutic targets. They exist between the interior and exterior of human cells. Some of them, known as “transporters,” transport substances into and out of the cellular environment.