Microbiology

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Antibiotics Trigger Accelerated Protein Sharing Among Genetically Identical Bacterial Populations

When bacteria are under antibiotic attack, it is not 'every man for himself.' Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and colleagues from collaborating institutions have discovered that bacterial populations work as a team to survive antibiotics.

26 Jun 2026

Global Study Identifies Robust Gut Microbiome Signature in Colorectal Cancer

Researchers have long suspected that the gut microbiome – the community of bacteria and other microorganisms living in the intestine – is closely linked to colorectal cancer.

25 Jun 2026

New Evolutionary Framework Views Psychedelic Compounds as Crucial Ecological Tools

Natural hallucinogens, such as psilocybin, mescaline, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and related compounds, have generally received attention for their effects on human perception, emotion, and cognition.

25 Jun 2026

New Research Identifies Gut Fungi as Markers for Food Allergies

Two new studies jointly published in Nature: The Clinical Microbiome reveal that certain species of fungi in the gut play a key role in the development of immune dysregulation and some pediatric allergic diseases - and may be promising targets for new therapies.

24 Jun 2026

Study Reveals How Arsenic Pollution Alters Bacterial Metabolism and Detoxification

As arsenic levels increased, bacterial richness and diversity declined, while arsenic-tolerant groups such as Proteobacteria became more abundant. The study also found that bacteria strengthened stress-response pathways, including signal transduction and cell motility, and upregulated arsenic-resistance genes such as arsC2 and arsB.

23 Jun 2026

Cryo-EM Imaging Uncovers the Structure of a Mysterious Molecular "Gate"

How large, fully folded proteins can pass through cell membranes without destroying them has long been one of the open questions in cell biology. Using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo‑EM), Leonid Sazanov and Ziyu Zhao at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have now uncovered new details about a molecular "gate." Their findings were published in Molecular Cell.

23 Jun 2026

New Study Reveals How Introns Jump Between Species Without Viral Help

Jumping genes are parasites in the genetic material of bacteria, plants, animals and humans. They are released into the cell as small RNA molecules from ribonucleic acid (RNA) and possess complex mechanisms for inserting themselves into other parts of the genetic material within the cell, thereby often conferring new properties on the cell and thus accelerating evolution. There are also jumping genes that free themselves from the RNA using an RNA enzyme. These ribozymes or self-splicing introns are a special group of jumping genes.

22 Jun 2026

Scientists Find Weak Point in Bacteria Causing Severe Childhood Diarrhea

The bacteria enterotoxigenic E. coli and Shigella together cause hundreds of millions of infections each year and are among the leading causes of diarrheal death, especially in children. Decades of vaccine development efforts have come up short, in part because the usual vaccine targets vary too much from one strain to the next.

22 Jun 2026

RNA-Based Barcoding Tool Tracks Virus-Host Interactions Inside Bacterial Communities

An interdisciplinary team of Rice University researchers has uncovered previously unknown relationships between bacteriophages - viruses that infect bacteria - and their bacterial hosts, offering a powerful new tool for next-generation microbiome engineering.

17 Jun 2026

Scientists Bring Ancestral Cell Membrane Proteins Back to Active Life

Resurrecting dinosaurs using DNA retrieved from a mosquito trapped in amber is a great movie plot, though it's less likely to happen in the real world.

17 Jun 2026

Molecular Cell Study Explains Gut Microbiome Impact on Liver Genes

A local research study led by scientists from the A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore (A*STAR GIS) has uncovered how the gut microbiome can influence gene activity in the liver by acting on short stretches of regulatory DNA that function like molecular "switches".

16 Jun 2026

Study Identifies Protein Involved as Key Structural Anchor for Bacterial Membranes

Researchers at the University of Notre Dame and collaborators have discovered a key process for how the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria attaches to the cell wall, advancing the understanding of how these bacteria frequently manifest resistance to antibiotics.

16 Jun 2026

Mapping Tiny Genetic Variations to Better Predict Future Global Pandemics

Most pandemics start when a pathogen spreads from animals to humans. It's a leading explanation for the COVID-19 pandemic: the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is a cousin to coronaviruses that live in bats.

16 Jun 2026

Phage Surface Proteins Act as Molecular Anchors to Attach Cells

Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria and are not considered human pathogens. Yet researchers at the Translational Microbiology Laboratory of the Institute of Biochemistry, HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged, have shown that some gut phages can also physically interact with human cells.

13 Jun 2026