Slime in Biological News

Some cheaters can keep it in their genes

... get away with it. The researchers looked at slime moulds microscopic single-cell organisms or ... another when food is in short supply. Studying slime moulds at the cellular level provides the ... it may be widespread among social creatures. slime mould amoebae feed off bacteria in the soil but ...

Unusual microbial ropes grow slowly in cave lake

... know why the have the shape they do," says Macalady. "Microorganisms in them likely secrete some sticky goo, an extra-cellular polymeric substance -- slime that holds them together." What the researchers do know is that the location where these ropes grow is very low in available energy -- considered ...

Ripple effect: Water snails offer new propulsion possibilities

... A UC San Diego engineer has revealed a new mode of propulsion based on how water snails create ripples of slime to crawl upside down beneath the surface. Eric Lauga, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Jacobs School of ...

MSU biofilms research helps set standards for everyday products

... the job. Biofilms are the extremely common communities of bacteria that form on most wet surfaces. They range from the plaque on teeth to the slime on streamside rocks to the sludge that clogs pipes. Most biofilms are harmless, but some have been linked to ailments such as urinary tract ...

Turning on cell-cell communication wipes out staph biofilms

... Biofilms are communities of bacteria that grow on moist surfaces, including heart valves, bone and medical implants. Encased in self-produced slime and highly resistant to antibiotic therapy and the body's own immune defenses, biofilm infections represent a tough and dangerous medical problem. ...

Veterinary college researchers explore function of biofilm in bovine respiratory disease

... community of bacteria that forms a glue-like substance that adheres to a variety of surfaces. The plaque on your teeth is a biofilm, as is the slime that often forms on meat that has been left out too long. While some biofilms are harmless, they can also cause a variety of diseases in humans and ...

Coral reefs and climate change: Microbes could be the key to coral death

... as a shield, preventing disease-causing pathogens such as bacteria and some viruses from penetrating their tissues. The reefs defensive mucus or slime is also at risk from stresses brought on by climate change. This seems to happen just at a time when some of the key functional microbe groups are ...

Symposium marks 30th anniversary of discovery of third domain of life

... the true bacteria and archaea; and eukaryotes, including all animals, plants, fungi and protists (a diverse group that includes protozoans, algae, slime molds and other organisms). Some prominent biologists still hold to this classification scheme. Woese had set out to map the evolutionary history ...

When the going gets tough, slime molds start synthesizing

... In times of plenty, the uni-cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum leads a solitary ... and prosper in challenging ecosystems." When slime molds starve, they collectively form a ... brigade that synthesizes polyketide molecules in slime mold cells. "Nature has paved the way to ...

Mine runoff continues to provide clues to microbial diversification

... Pink slime at the surface of water trickling through an old mine in California is proving to be a treasure for researchers in their quest to learn more about ...

Search on for treatment of slow-healing wounds

... The money will be distributed over four years. Biofilms are bacteria that grab onto a surface, build a colony and then secrete a protective slime that makes them nearly invulnerable to antibiotics and disinfectants. Biofilms can foul drinking water systems, industrial pipelines and cause ...

Like a snail through the intestinal canal

... Dimitra Dodou, is in fact to use this layer of mucus and allow the robot to imitate the forward movement of a snail. A snail leaves a trail of slime behind it on the ground. This slimy material works simultaneously as a lubricant for gliding on and as a glue which the slug can grip hold of. An ...

New genetic test can detect clam disease

... devastating shellfish harvests and commercial aquaculture operations. QPX - for quahog parasite unknown - is a single-celled organism related to slime mold. It was first detected in 1995 in Provincetown, MA and spread to nearby clam beds, killing nine of ten clams in many of the beds. The disease ...

New classification of eukaryotes has implications for AIDS treatment, agriculture and beyond

... are 1) the Opisthokonta, grouping the animals, fungi, choanoflagellates, and Mesomycetozoa; 2) the Amoebozoa, grouping most traditional amoebae, slime moulds, many testate amoebae, some amoebo-flagellates, and several species without mitochondria; 3) the Excavata, grouping oxymonads, parabasalids, ...

Biologists determine genetic blueprint of social amoeba

... Dictyostelium belongs, evolved from the common ancestor of eukaryotes (the group of organisms that contain all animals, plants, algae, protozoa, slime mold and fungi) before fungi. Dictyostelium has about 12,000 genes that produce a greater variety of proteins than the approximately 6,000 found in ...

To control germs, scientists deploy tiny agents provocateurs

... amalgamations of bacteria that are widespread in nature and have serious implications for agriculture and human health. Biofilms form the green slime on rocks, the plaque on human teeth and the slippery film on ship hulls. If a single cell were analogous to one man, biofilms would be the "bacterial ...