Bacteria in Biological News

Wastewater produces electricity and desalinates water

... cell -- a device that uses naturally occurring bacteria to convert wastewater into clean water producing ... water. "Our main intent was to show that using bacteria we can produce sufficient current to do this," ... each containing an electrode. Naturally occurring bacteria in the wastewater consume the organic material ...

Pinhead-size worms + robot = new antibiotics

... involve adding the potential drug to cultures of bacteria or cells and watching the results. These tests ... to potential drugs that are toxic, or that fight bacteria in the same ways as existing antibiotics that are ... new antibiotics in living animals infected with bacteria to see the effects on the entire body of the ...

Test helps in fight against lung infections and for treating other life-threatening infections

... or several together eliminated or controlled the bacteria in the biofilm. With each failed treatment, not ... and health care costs increased, but the bacteria would be more likely to develop resistance to one ... and other chronic infections were caused by bacteria in a biofilm state which are much more difficult ...

Microbes and their hosts -- exploring the complexity of symbiosis in DNA and cell biology

... in ... After decades of focusing on bacteria in pure culture, it is evident that to manage them for our benefit, we need to understand bacteria in association with the complex biological ... in the mouth to detect the presence of harmful bacteria and orchestrate their destruction. Author Richard ...

New supercomputer to reel in answers to some of Earth's problems

... up. Bacterial transformers: Communities of bacteria live and grow in the soil. And some bacteria have a taste for metals, a talent that can be ... Chinook to understand the inner workings of these bacteria and how they form communities in order to take ...

Researchers capture bacterial infection on film

... new technique that allows them to make a movie of bacteria infecting their living host. Whilst most ... a model organism, injecting fluorescently tagged bacteria into the embryos and observing their interaction ... Listeria and Trypanosomes. By observing how these bacteria interact with the immune system, researchers will ...

Probiotics help gastric-bypass patients lose weight more quickly, Stanford study shows

... supplements. Probiotics are the so-called "good" bacteria found in yogurt as well as in over-the-counter ... for blockages, he hypothesized that a build-up of bacteria in the intestine bacterial overgrowth might be ... aren't aware that we all carry about a lot of bacteria in our intestines and that they're extremely ...

A matter of density, not quantity

... in hospitals in particular are often caused by bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Once they reach a ... of certain signaling compounds generated by the bacteria reaches a threshold level. A team working with ... number of cells is irrelevant; only the number of bacteria in a given volume plays a role. As the ...

Toward an explanation for Crohn's disease?

... codes for a receptor that will recognize invading bacteria and then trigger the immune response. This study ... which is only found in a specific family of bacteria called mycobacteria. When mycobacteria invade the ... but they did not know whether the presence of bacteria was a cause or a consequence of the disease. This ...

Forsyth scientists suggest linkages between obesity and oral bacterial infection

... has discovered new links between certain oral bacteria and obesity. In a recent study, the researchers ... may provide clues to interactions between oral bacteria and the pathology of obesity. This research may ... is exciting to image the possibilities if oral bacteria are contributing to some types of obesity," added ...

Spontaneous assembly

... network of signaling proteins in E.coli bacteria is able to spontaneously form from clusters of ... within prokaryotic cells, such as rod-shaped bacteria like E. coli . "It has remained somewhat mysterious how bacteria are able to organize and spatially segregate ...

Scientists track chemical changes in cells as they endure extreme conditions

... "We can now follow chemical changes in living bacteria as they respond to extreme environments. This opens up a new window into how bacteria adapt and carry out some of life's most important ... because the bacterium, which is among a class of bacteria that reduce sulfate, plays a critical role in ...

Finding the constant in bacterial communication

... found. Although they have no sensory organs, bacteria can get a good idea about what's going on in ... though there are millions of different kinds of bacteria with their own ways of sensing the world around ... understanding of communication between cells and bacteria is essential to the advancement of the new field ...

The tiny difference in the genes of bacteria

... of both, drinking water and sea water. Various bacteria that live in drinking water or sea water can ... pathogenic germ with only a dozen ingested bacteria causing severe diarrhoea. This strain is a threat ... to characterize and distinguish hundreds of bacteria strains in a short time. The method is based on ...

Rampant helper syndrome

... quite apart from the so called eukaryotes, being bacteria and higher organisms. Many species live under ... unique biochemical processes shared neither with bacteria nor with eukaryotes. Methanogenic archaeans, for ... essential these molecules are. Methanogenic bacteria have quite an exceptional task to accomplish: ...

Biological warfare in bacteria offers hope for new antibiotics

... of proteins that are highly effective at killing bacteria and which could hold the key to developing new ... develop new drug delivery methods to target the bacteria that cause diseases in people." "It's as ... how colicins specifically penetrate Gram-negative bacteria which are protected by two membrane barriers. ...

The tiny difference in the genes of bacteria

... of both, drinking water and sea water. Various bacteria that live in drinking water or sea water can ... pathogenic germ with only a dozen ingested bacteria causing severe diarrhoea. This strain is a threat ... to characterize and distinguish hundreds of bacteria strains in a short time. The method is based on ...

Singapore nanotechnology combats fatal brain infections

... devised at IBN effectively seek out and destroy bacteria and fungal cells that could cause fatal ... For example, the nanoparticles cause damage to bacteria cell walls and prevent further bacterial growth." ... and amphotericin B. "We are able to kill bacteria better than conventional antibiotics. By ...

A breath mint made from... coffee?

... finds that a coffee extract can inhibit the bacteria that lead to bad breath. New laboratory tests have shown that the extract prevents malodorous bacteria from making their presence felt ― or smelt. ... A "taster's choice" for stopping bad bacteria In the laboratory, the team monitored the ...

Plant microbe shares features with drug-resistant pathogen

... extensive similarities between a strain of bacteria commonly associated with plants and one ... the versatility and adaptability of a group of bacteria known as Stenotrophomonas. These bacteria have great metabolic versatility, allowing them ...

American Chemical Society weekly presspac -- June 10, 2009

... of a new strain of Listeria monocytogenes, bacteria that normally cause food poisoning, but which ... by "infecting" cells. After entering cells, the bacteria burst and die, leading to Pouton's term "suicidal ... The researchers demonstrated that engineered bacteria containing a test protein could successfully ...

A tiny frozen microbe may hold clues to extraterrestrial life

... after which colonies of very small purple-brown bacteria were seen. H. glaciei is small even by ... far from the Greenland ice sheet; studying these bacteria can provide insights into how cells can survive ... and hospitals. If there are other ultra-small bacteria that are pathogens, then they could be present in ...

Researchers describe 'implausible' chemistry that produces herbicidal compound

... DNA. The resistance gene also comes from the bacteria that produce PT. It allows the bacteria (which belong to the genus Streptomyces) to emit ... thus can inhibit ordinary cellular processes in bacteria or other organisms. This makes them attractive ...

Newly discovered reactions from an old drug may lead to new antibiotics

... key to developing a new line of antibiotics for bacteria that commonly cause diarrhea, tooth decay and, in ... for new narrow spectrum antibiotics that block bacteria that require selenium to grow." The key ... reaction changes the selenium, which prevents bacteria from using it to grow. Auranofin is an ...

Boston University biomedical engineers teach bacteria to count

... engineers at Boston University have taught bacteria how to count. Professor James J. Collins and ... remain limited. Gene networks that give bacteria the ability to count could become powerful ... bacterial function or environmental cue that bacteria can sense, such as presence of a toxin or ...

TB -- hiding in plain sight

... of granulomas, which are areas where the bacteria are contained but not destroyed. A group led by ... cells responsible for killing the tuberculosis bacteria surrounded the granuloma, these cells had low ... resulting in the survival of the tuberculosis bacteria and perhaps contributing to persistent long-term ...

Are you okay to kiss?

... breath test which lets you know if malodorous bacteria are brewing in your mouth. A blue result suggests ... scientists believed that only one population of bacteria (the Gram-negative ones) break down the proteins ... recently discovered that the other population of bacteria (the Gram-positive ones) are bad breath's ...

Scientists work to plug microorganisms into the energy grid

... microscopic in fact. Microscopic organisms from bacteria and cyanobacteria, to fungi and microalgae, are ... resources. Donohue's lab is working with purple bacteria called Rhodobacter sphaeroides that use ... scale prototype "microbial batteries" using the bacteria and the fuel cells in a single enclosed system ...

Glutamine supplements show promise in treating stomach ulcers

... Nearly 20 years ago, it was discovered that bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori were responsible ... a primary cause of stomach cancer. But today the bacteria is growing increasingly resistant to antibiotics. ... School. "Gastric damage develops when the bacteria weakens the stomach's protective mucous coating, ...

Cholesterol-busting bug with a taste for waste

... A novel species of bacteria with cholesterol-busting properties has been ... in urban sewage residues. Gordonia bacteria have only been classed as a separate group of bacteria since 1997 but they have already proved useful as ...

Bacteria create aquatic superbugs in waste treatment plants

... ANN ARBOR, Mich.---For bacteria in wastewater treatment plants, the stars align ... Health and his team sampled water containing the bacteria Acinetobacter at five sites in and near Ann ... colleagues found that while the total number of bacteria left in the final discharge effluent declined ...

Pliable proteins keep photosynthesis on the light path

... was likely one of the earliest photosynthetic bacteria to evolve. The purple bacteria possess a simplified system similar to ... in the reaction center, helping the plant or bacteria to harness light energy efficiently even if ...

Bacteria play role in preventing spread of malaria

... bacteria in the gut of the Anopheles gambiae mosquito ... Research Institute. "The interplay between bacteria and the mosquito's immune system may have ... mosquitoes may be exposed to different types of bacteria in different regions. Theoretically, ...

Tufted bacteria cause infection in premature babies

... bacteria that normally reside on the skin of healthy ... skin and quickly develop dynamic ecosystems: the bacteria are like tufted, self-adhesive hairballs. ... birth. In healthy adults and children, these bacteria normally live in harmony with the host organism. ...

New study overturns orthodoxy on how macrophages kill bacteria

... immune cells that can engulf and poison bacteria and other pathogens, killed microbes by damaging ... cellular components and cause cell death. bacteria and animal cells contain special enzymes, called ... large quantities of superoxide onto engulfed bacteria to kill them. Although macrophages direct ROS ...

Two-pronged model could help foil tough cystic fibrosis infections

... a mainstay antibiotic with drugs to deprive the bacteria of iron, which facilitates their persistent ... patients are plagued by infections of the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Their mucous-clogged lungs are fertile incubators for the bacteria to breed and cluster in slimy communities called ...

Sugar on bacteria surface serves as base for a web of resistance

... COLUMBUS, Ohio The bacteria responsible for chronic infections in cystic ... can be lethal. Chronic infection with these bacteria is what causes the death of most patients with ... matrix. It's a long polymer that attracts all the bacteria together," said Luyan Ma, lead author of the ...

Genetic switch potential key to new class of antibiotics

... because interfering with riboswitches in bacteria known to cause major human infections may provide a new generation of antibiotics at a time when bacteria have become frighteningly capable of resisting ... Center, and the study's senior author. "Among the bacteria now known to contain riboswitches are E. coli and ...

Ancient ecosystem thrives millions of years below Antarctic glacier

... University. The ecosystem contains a diversity of bacteria that thrive in cold, salty water loaded with iron ... breakthrough discovery when they learned that the bacteria convert key elements on Earth into food, Priscu said. The bacteria cycle sulfur compounds to access iron in the ...

Separating the good from the bad

... at MIT and Brown University studying how marine bacteria move recently discovered that a sharp variation in water current segregates right-handed bacteria from their left-handed brethren, impelling the ... to a drug's safety. While single-celled bacteria do not have hands, their helical-shaped flagella ...