Microbiology

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Soil DNA Reveals Hundreds of Unknown Bacterial Genomes

Most bacteria cannot be cultured in the lab-and that's been bad news for medicine. Many of our frontline antibiotics originated from microbes, yet as antibiotic resistance spreads and drug pipelines run dry, the soil beneath our feet has a vast hidden reservoir of untapped lifesaving compounds.

16 Sep 2025

Microbial Molecule Controls Cancer Progression and Boosts Chemotherapy

An international team of scientists led by researchers from the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), Imperial College London, and the University of Cologne discovered that microbes associated with tumors produce a molecule that can control cancer progression and improve chemotherapy efficacy.

15 Sep 2025

Cheesemaking Inspires New Insights into Fungal Evolution and Food Security

Many scientific discoveries are serendipitous-the result of chance. Seeing evolution in action in a cheese cave turned out to be exactly that for Benjamin Wolfe, associate professor of biology, and his colleagues.

15 Sep 2025

Built Oral Biofilm Models Reveal How Peri-Implantitis Develops

The study establishes in vitro biofilm models, revealing key insights into dysbiosis in peri-implantitis and paving the way for diagnostic advancements.

12 Sep 2025

Understanding How Bacteria Exploit Plant Growth Hormones to Attack Crops

Aphids, grasshoppers and other bugs aren't the only pests that can quickly wipe out a crop. Many harmful bacteria have evolved ways to bypass a plant's defenses.

11 Sep 2025

Scientists Engineer E. Coli To Produce Plastic-Building Chemical

This study reveals a novel pathway in E. coli for synthesizing 2,5-pyridinedicarboxylate from glucose, offering a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.

10 Sep 2025

Targeting the Oral Metagenome to Boost Healthy Bacteria

Professor Zhang, a chemical and biomolecular engineering professor at UC Berkeley, is working to distinguish between the healthy and unhealthy bacteria in the human mouth. Her goal is to promote a probiotic oral microbiome by increasing the population of beneficial bacteria.

5 Sep 2025

CRISPRi Screening Reveals Genetic Insights into Cyanobacteria Acclimation

Cyanobacteria are the most abundant photosynthetic microorganisms on Earth. They live in nearly every habitat throughout the world, from permafrost to hot springs and from soils to oceans.

5 Sep 2025

Scientists Identify Human Proteins Essential for SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Replication

Despite vaccines and treatments, SARS-CoV-2-the virus that causes COVID-19-continues to pose a global health threat, driven by new variants and its ability to hijack human cells in ways that still aren't fully understood.

5 Sep 2025

Scientists Uncover Hidden Role of Cas9 in Building Bacterial Immune Memory

When scientists discovered how bacteria protect themselves against viral invaders, called phages, in the early 2000s, little did they know they'd stumbled upon a revolutionary tool researchers could use to edit the DNA of living cells.

4 Sep 2025

AI Tool for Designing Antibiotics from Scratch

In a recent Cell Biomaterials study, University of Pennsylvania researchers offer AMP-Diffusion, a generative AI tool for creating tens of thousands of novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) — short strings of amino acids that serve as the building blocks of proteins — with bacteria-killing capability.

3 Sep 2025

Unlocking the Secrets of Lignin Digestion in Soil Microbes

For years, scientists have marveled at bacteria's ability to digest the seemingly indigestible, including carbon from lignin, the tough, woody material that gives plants their rigidity.

3 Sep 2025

First Identification of KPC-Producing Bacteria in Chilean Urban Wastewater

A team of Chilean researchers has identified, for the first time in the country, the presence of KPC-type carbapenemase-producing bacteria in wastewater samples from the Greater Concepción Metropolitan Area.

2 Sep 2025

Scientists Discover New Microbial Metabolism That Breathes Iron Minerals

An international team of scientists led by microbiologists Marc Mussmann and Alexander Loy from the University of Vienna has discovered a new microbial metabolism: so-called MISO bacteria "breathe" iron minerals by oxidizing toxic sulfide.

28 Aug 2025

Bacteria Pass Down Environmental Memories Across Generations

Bacteria aren't just mindless microbes. New research from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reveals that single bacterial cells can carry a "memory" of their past environments-passing it down through generations-before eventually forgetting.

27 Aug 2025

New Research Explains How Alcohol Inhibits Gut Health

Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a leading cause of liver transplantation and mortality globally, and its effect is only increasing.

27 Aug 2025

How Defined Microbes Decide Chocolate Flavor

This study links microbial activity and fermentation conditions to cocoa flavor profiles, advancing techniques for producing premium chocolate consistently.

27 Aug 2025

New Insights Reveal Bacterial Roots of Key Plant Hormone Enzymes

Terpenoids play vital roles in plant ecology-from repelling pests to attracting pollinators-and are produced by terpene synthases (TPSs) enzymes.

19 Aug 2025

Untapped Antimicrobial Weapons Hidden in Archaea Genomes

A first look into the molecular defenses of archaea highlights the importance of surveying diverse microbes to discover new types of antimicrobials.

18 Aug 2025

Microbes Help Shape the Developing Brain Before and After Birth

New research from Michigan State University finds that microbes play an important role in shaping early brain development, specifically in a key brain region that controls stress, social behavior, and vital body functions.

14 Aug 2025