Microbiology

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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

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

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

Global floating algae are rapidly expanding across Earth’s oceans

Recent AI-driven satellite studies show a significant increase in floating algae, highlighting shifts in ocean ecosystems and implications for climate change.

22 Jan 2026

Engineering Escherichia coli for Sustainable Biosynthesis of Lauryl Glucoside

By reconstructing a non-natural metabolic route in Escherichia coli, the researchers demonstrated that simple sugars can be biologically converted into lauryl glucoside through the coordinated production of its fatty alcohol precursor and a final glycosylation step.

21 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

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

Giant Virus with A Massive Genome and Unusual Infection Strategy

Ushikuvirus, a newly identified giant virus, showcases unique cytopathic effects and structural features, enhancing knowledge of viral evolution and diversity.

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

Giant Virus Uses Unique Codon Strategy to Optimize Host Resource Usage

A virus relies on the host's translation machinery to replicate itself and become infectious. Translation efficiency partially depends on the usage of a codon, or sequence of three nucleotides, that matches the cellular pool of tRNA, key molecules in translation.

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