bacterial

W.M. Keck Foundation funds study of friendly microbes

...al methods for mining genome sequence data so that bacterial species can be more rapidly and accurately classif... project aims to directly identify the products of bacterial metabolism in the intestine. The goal is to characterize previously unknown chemical compounds that ...

Fox Chase Cancer Center scientists identify immune-system mutation

...re essential for combating intracellular viral and bacterial infections (cell-mediated immunity) and also for helping other white blood cells (B cells, derived from bone marrow) generate antibodies against foreign agents that enter the body. Other T cells are known as killer cells because they attack foreign i...

Genome of deadly amoeba shows surprising complexity, evidence of lateral gene transfer

...p a significant number of its metabolic genes from bacterial co-inhabitants of the human gut. Identification of...rimitive' organism ?originating from the time that bacterial lineages diverged from eukaryotic lineages ?because the amoeba lacked many of the visible traits of ...

Plants respond similarly to signals from friends, enemies

...weak link in plants but may be using the very same bacterial machinery against it." The study started as a graduate research project of Ravisha R. Weerasinghe, the lead author of the paper, in the lab of Dr. Nina Allen, professor of botany and co-author of the paper. Weerasinghe first observed the changes in ...

Learning to fight an adversary that won't stay down

...hold the upper hand ?and if three billion years of bacterial history is any kind of track record, we're in for ...s. And they keep coming." However, the mapping of bacterial genomes has not yet helped yield solutions to the problem, says Dr. Davies. He adds that our unders...

Scientists seek answers on what activates deadly anthrax spores

...d what activates the spores in anthrax, the deadly bacterial infection that is back in the news. "A key aspect of anthrax spore biology concerns the germination process through which the dormant spore becomes a reproductive, disease-causing bacterium," explained Al Claiborne, Ph.D., the principal investigator...

The secret lives of whales

...down lipids in cold water, these animals and their bacterial garden may hold a key to better cold water washing detergents. But more importantly, study of whale worms and other whale-fall species help scientists understand how life has diversified in specialized habitats in the deep-sea. Deep-sea vent tube wor...

Color-blind method opens new doors in DNA sequencing

...uclei of cells and through a painstaking series of bacterial cloning and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) steps, reduce its length to a manageable size of thousands of nucleotides. Using natural replicating enzymes, the DNA is tagged with four fluorescent dyes, each corresponding to a particular nucleotide. ...

Plant hemoglobins: Oxygen handlers critical for nitrogen fixation

... avoid damage of oxygen-sensitive nitrogenase, the bacterial enzyme complex responsible for symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Thus, plant hemoglobins fulfill roles analogous to those of animal hemoglobins, as well as novel roles that are apparently unique to symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Thomas Ott, Joost van Donge...

Highly adaptable genome in gut bacterium key to intestinal health

...ates. This adaptive mechanism not only allows the bacterial species to survive rapidly changing nutrient condi...ents while obtaining food for itself and other gut bacterial species. The complete genome sequence of B. theta was generated two years ago in the same laboratory...

Jumping gene helps explain immune system's abilities

...her jumping genes work also holds cluesto fighting bacterial infections, improving gene therapies and tacklingdisease-carrying insects, Craig notes. Bacterial jumping genes canprotect bacteria from certain antibiotics. Scientists also are studyingjumping genes as vectors to carry gene therapies and as potentia...

UCSD Discovery Shows How Embryonic Stem Cells Perform 'Quality Control' Inspections

...her jumping genes work also holds cluesto fighting bacterial infections, improving gene therapies and tacklingdisease-carrying insects, Craig notes. Bacterial jumping genes canprotect bacteria from certain antibiotics. Scientists also are studyingjumping genes as vectors to carry gene therapies and as potentia...

New therapy for HIV/AIDS eliminates needles and excessive toxicity

...her jumping genes work also holds cluesto fighting bacterial infections, improving gene therapies and tacklingdisease-carrying insects, Craig notes. Bacterial jumping genes canprotect bacteria from certain antibiotics. Scientists also are studyingjumping genes as vectors to carry gene therapies and as potentia...

DNA Recombination and Repair—A New Twist to RecA Function

... present evidence indicating that filaments of the bacterial RecA protein, long known for their role in homologous recombination and DNA repair, have properties reminiscent of a molecular motor as well. RecA filaments consist of DNA helices lined with RecA protein. RecA filaments invade a region of double-stra...

Gene sequencing explains bioremediation 'bug'

...her jumping genes work also holds cluesto fighting bacterial infections, improving gene therapies and tacklingdisease-carrying insects, Craig notes. Bacterial jumping genes canprotect bacteria from certain antibiotics. Scientists also are studyingjumping genes as vectors to carry gene therapies and as potentia...

The Bacteria's guide to survival

... going apoptotic." A host's cells can respond to a bacterial infection with apoptosis, or programmed cell death. For bacteria that pass directly from host to host, this can pose a problem. If the bacteria are highly virulent and induce too much cell death, they could take down their host before they're able to...

UF Researchers Map Bacterial Proteins That Cause Tooth Loss

...bes. One of these, Porphyromonas gingivalis, is a bacterial homesteader that stakes a claim deep within the spaces between teeth and gums. It’s also the leading cause of tooth loss ?secreting proteins that destroy the soft tissues and bone that support teeth to cause periodontal disease. Now scientists have ...

Scientists solve structure of key protein in innate immune response

...owed how it is perfectly suited to bind to certain bacterial products. The research appears as the "Paper of t...o help treat septic shock, an often fatal systemic bacterial infection that is triggered by LPS. "Pharmaceutical companies have tried to develop anti-septic sho...

Sequencing of marine bacterium will help study of cell communication

...ch, studies how cell-to-cell interaction regulates bacterial processes that include antibiotic or toxin production, biofilm formation, and bioluminescence. One of the longest studied models of quorum sensing is the bioluminescent marine bacterium V. fischeri. "It was selected by Drs. Ruby and Greenberg to be ...

Rats infected as newborns grew up vulnerable to memory problems during an immune challenge

...cated in schizophrenia, autism and cerebral palsy; bacterial infection is a risk factor for Parkinson's disease...ted with a low dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a bacterial component that causes flu-like symptoms,. This time, the rats infected with E. coli as newborns froz...

Pathogen-Mimicking Vaccine As Strategy For Cancer Therapy

...therapeutic cancer vaccine combining the synthetic bacterial DNA sequence, CpG 7909 (ProMuneTM, Coley Pharmaceu...g the immune system into thinking the vaccine is a bacterial infection," says lead author Dr. Daniel Speiser from the LICR Lausanne Branch. "The immune system mo...

Yale researchers identify molecule for detecting parasitic infection in humans

...linical importance. Most infections are caused by bacterial or viral microorganisms that produce molecules qui...tions are less prominent in the United States than bacterial and viral infections, the global impact of parasitic infections on health is tremendous. "Insight ob...

Multiple Campylobacter Genomes Sequenced

In 1995, the first complete bacterial genome sequence was published. Now, nearly 200 bacterial genomes have been completed, and a new one hits the scientific press most weeks. This burgeoning ind...

Drug-resistant bacteria on poultry products differ by brand

...alth. Their study is the first to directly compare bacterial contamination of poultry products sold in U.S. supermarkets from food producers who use antibiotics and from those who claim they do not. The study focused on antibiotic resistance, specifically fluoroquinolone-resistance in Campylobacter, a pathogen...

Norovirus, AIDS vaccine and Hepatitis Virus

...4-hour period, frequently results from exposure to bacterial or viral pathogens. Noroviruses (NoV's) are considered to be one of the leading causes of nonbacterial gastro-related illnesses resulting in over 23 million cases annually. In the study stool samples were collected from 34 patients with traveler's d...

Robot-based system developed at Carnegie Mellon detects life in Chile's Atacama desert

...over's instruments were able to detect lichens and bacterial colonies in two areas: a coastal region with a more humid climate and an interior, very arid region less hospitable to life. "We saw very clear signals from chlorophyll, DNA and protein. And we were able to visually identify biological materials fro...

Researchers discover chemical compounds that affect plant growth

... of the chemicals resembled pyocyanin a product of bacterial metabolism thought to target yeast cell membranes. With chemical genomics, the team could identify valuable genetic characteristics beyond the reach of conventional mutations, which are often lethal when present in essential genes such as those that ...

New Drugs For Bad Bugs: UF Approach Could Bolster Antibiotic Arsenal

... determine the minimum concentration that prevents bacterial growth. That number was taken and compared with concentrations of the drug in the blood, and from those two numbers a dosing decision is made. “We feel that’s not the optimal way go,?he said. “It doesn’t give you the full story ?it doesn’t tell you,...

Microbial fuel cell: High yield hydrogen source and wastewater cleaner

...he researchers explain that hydrogen production by bacterial fermentation is currently limited by the "fermentation barrier" -- the fact that bacteria, without a power boost, can only convert carbohydrates to a limited amount of hydrogen and a mixture of "dead end" fermentation end products such as acetic and ...

Buying Time Through Hibernation on Demand

...s during the crucial time it takes to diagnose the bacterial or viral cause and administer the proper antibiotic. "Here's a patient group, quite commonly found in emergency rooms around the country, who would do well if they could just have their core body temperature taken down in order to buy them time unti...

U-M team recovers ancient whale in Egyptian desert

...s during the crucial time it takes to diagnose the bacterial or viral cause and administer the proper antibiotic. "Here's a patient group, quite commonly found in emergency rooms around the country, who would do well if they could just have their core body temperature taken down in order to buy them time unti...

To control germs, scientists deploy tiny agents provocateurs

Aiming to thwart persistent bacterial infections and better control group behaviors of c... artificial chemicals that infiltrate and sabotage bacterial "mobs." Reporting the work here today (March 13) at the 229th national meeting of the American Chem...

Researchers make gains in understanding antibiotic resistance

...and his colleagues studied the structural basis of bacterial resistance to a group of antibiotics that, while chemically quite different, all jam the activity of the protein-making factory in bacteria in much the same way. They studied the MLSBK antibiotics, an acronym for a group of antibiotics which include ...

Researchers report new pro-inflammatory role for anti-inflammatory enzyme

...f the immune system's pro-inflammatory response to bacterial invasion is to increase nitric oxide levels with a...cells are exposed to pro-inflammatory cytokines or bacterial endotoxin (part of the bacterial cell wall) they start to produce inducible nitric oxide synthase (i...

Biologists discover why 10% of Europeans are safe from HIV

...pox or even bubonic plague but bubonic plague is a bacterial disease rather than a virus and is not blocked by the CCR5-delta32 mutation. Professor Duncan commented: "The fact that the CCR5-delta32 mutation is restricted to Europe suggests that the plagues of the Middle Ages played a big part in raising the f...

First North American Encapsulated Islet Transplant without Long-term Immune Suppression into a Patient with Type 1 Diabetes

...pox or even bubonic plague but bubonic plague is a bacterial disease rather than a virus and is not blocked by the CCR5-delta32 mutation. Professor Duncan commented: "The fact that the CCR5-delta32 mutation is restricted to Europe suggests that the plagues of the Middle Ages played a big part in raising the f...

Physiological effects of reduced gravity on bacteria

...ffects of gravity. "Intra-specific differences in bacterial responses to modeled reduced gravity" by Paul W. Baker and Laura G. Leff describes differences in bacterial responses to reduced gravity and how for some species, bacteria from the International Space Station...

Cooperation is key—a new way of looking at MicroRNA and how it controls gene expression

...eins do not cause more damage to the body than the bacterial infection they were produced to defeat. Excessive inflammation can lead to organ failure and death, and this is exactly what happens when people are stricken with septic shock. Likewise, the loss of control of genetic expression is the underlying cau...

Anammox bacteria produce nitrogen gas in oceans' snackbar

...d in the Atlantic Ocean are closely related to the bacterial species Scalindua sorokinii, which was recently discovered in the Black Sea (Kuypers et al., 2003 Nature 8 April). Like their relatives in the Black Sea, the Namibian anammox bacteria contain unique ladder molecules (Damsté et al., Nature 17 October ...

Roots Engage in Underground Chemical Warfare

..., Michael Mishkind said, "The puzzle of why so few bacterial species are pathogens remains a fascinating problem. The simple, yet elegant experimental approaches used by this team uncovered a critical aspect of the battle that occurs between plants and microbes. ...

Edible bivalves as a source of human pathogens: signals between vibrios and the bivalve host.

...e fate of vibrios within the bivalve host, such as bacterial surface ligands, soluble hemolymph components and the ability of bacteria to affect distinct signaling pathways responsible for the hemocyte immune response. Laura Canesi, from the University of Urbino adds "In bivalve hemocytes, different Vibrio sp...

Measuring hormone cuts antibiotic use in half in pneumonia patients

...ults to tell them whether a patient's pneumonia is bacterial or viral, so they start all patients on antibiotic...in have been found to be elevated in patients with bacterial infection but not viral infection or other inflammatory diseases, Dr. Tamm and colleagues decided to...

Advancements In Genomics Foster Deep Sea Discoveries

...(Italy), presented the first genetic blueprint for bacterial life in a cold deep-sea environment. They also pr... deep ocean, including the application of deep sea bacterial genes for improving human nutrition and degrading pollutants, and calculating possibilities for life...

Protein prevents detrimental immune effects of bacterial sepsis

...this balancing act by analyzing the effects of the bacterial toxin LPS on normal and annexin 1 knockout mice. A...tance of this work is underscored by the fact that bacterial sepsis ranked among the top ten causes of death in both adults and neonates in 2002 in the United St...

Norovirus found to cause traveler's diarrhea

...uernavaca, Mexico, for Noroviruses, as well as for bacterial and protozoan pathogens. Sixty-five percent of the... samples also were positive for E. coli, a leading bacterial cause of traveler's diarrhea, thus indicating that dual infections among individuals experiencing tr...

Could microbes solve Russia's chemical weapons conundrum?

...not use them for growth. The group hopes that the bacterial strain can be used in the context of plant-microbial associa-tions to create a new generation of biotechnologies for remediation of soils contaminated by CWAs or products of their detoxification. "Bioutilization of organic compounds of reaction mass...

Study uncovers bacteria's worst enemy

...results of a recent Laboratory study may help make bacterial bioremediation a more widespread method for cleani...ing because even though we've known for years that bacterial bioremediation can be a preferred method for cleaning up actinide contamination, we've never really ...

Basis for DNA ejection from single phage particles

...infection, only their genome is transferred to the bacterial host's cytoplasm, whereas the capsid and tail remain bound to the cell surface. This situation is very different from that found in most eukaryotic viruses, including those that infect humans, in that the envelope of these viruses fuses with the host...

Symbiotic bacteria protect hunting wasps from fungal infestation

...ship between a wasp species and a newly discovered bacterial species ?a relationship that potentially sheds lig...within its antennae and that females utilize these bacterial symbionts to protect the wasp larvae against pathogenic fungi. Detrimental microorganisms are a per...

Stanford gut check shows diversity of intestinal ecosystem

...e healthy subjects he studied, he found 395 unique bacterial species. "The intestinal flora is critical to human physiology and a wide spectrum of disease, but the first step in studying this ecosystem is to figure out who is there and how the community census varies in time and space," said Eckburg, the lead...

To Stop Evolution: New Way Of Fighting Antibiotic Resistance Demonstrated By Scripps Scientists

...r changeability. At the dawn of the 20th century, bacterial infections accounted for several of the leading ca..., and lowered the incidence of many other pandemic bacterial infections. These antibiotics are basically natural chemicals (or derivatives of natural chemicals) ...

Wake Forest scientists find new combination vaccine effective against plague

...and not in Winston-Salem. Flagellin is taken from bacterial flagella, whiplike appendages that are used by bac... for animals that have been exposed to a different bacterial infection to have antibodies against flagellin. But Mizel and his colleagues found that flagellin is...

Fox Chase study shows that weakened T-cell receptor signals change T-cell lineage

...against external disease-causing agents, including bacterial infections, tissue damage and stress," Wiest said. "Laboratory mice unable to make delta-gamma T cells heal skin injuries more slowly. "Immune surveillance, the body mechanism that detects potential cancers and destroys them before their presence is...

Where bacteria get their genes

...teria. Ochman and his colleagues' work shows that bacterial lineages can still be traced by considering only t... Foundation. Lateral gene transfer, unique to the bacterial world, has long been recognized as common. But until now scientists did not know which of a bacteriu...

A hope for oil spill bioremediation

...m's goal was to assess the response of the natural bacterial population after the spill and to detect evidences of crude oil degradation taking place at the contaminated sites. They used stable isotopes (13C/12C) to determine the origin of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in control and contaminated coastal ma...

Chemical Engineer Kao Explores Antibiotic Synthesis With DNA Chips

...eria normally produce antibiotics to inhibit other bacterial strains competing for resources. Pharmaceutical co...and exploit drug-company mutants--in this case the bacterial species that produces erythromycin, an antibiotic given to treat bronchitis, diphtheria, whooping co...

Scientists identify genes responsible for 'black rot' disease in vegetables

...d functional genomics screen for a plant or animal bacterial pathogen to date, is published online today in the journal Genome Research. "Black rot" is caused by the pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pathovar campestris (or Xcc). Under favorable conditions (high humidity and temperature), Xcc infect...

DOE JGI launches IMG public online microbial genome data clearinghouse

... in the annotation effort. "There are hundreds of bacterial genome sequences in multiple databases with hundre...t first-rate computer skills to compare fungal and bacterial genomes and scrutinize fundamental processes like speciation and adaptation." In addition to curati...

Bugs, even 'bad' ones, can be educationally beneficial, new book says

...ue intact. Because of the increasing prevalence of bacterial resistance, the therapy has been used recently to replace antibiotics. Since retiring in 1995, Waldbauer has written several books, including "The Handy Bug Answer Book," "What Good are Bugs" and "Insects Through the Seasons." He is now completing w...

Disabling gene defuses rheumatoid arthritis in mice

...lly comprise the body's frontline defenses against bacterial infection. Peng became interested in Foxo3a because of prior studies his research team had conducted on a related gene, Foxj1. Both genes belong to the forkhead family of genes, which regulates the activity of other genes and has been connected to c...