slime

To control germs, scientists deploy tiny agents provocateurs

...iculture 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 equivalent of mob mentality," says Blackwell. In the realm of health, biofilms are at the root of g...

Biologists determine genetic blueprint of social amoeba

...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 fungi. And its genes are more closely related to human genes than are the genes from fungi. "That rea...

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

... 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, diplomonads, jakobids, and several other genera of heterotrophic flagellates, and possibly including t...

New genetic test can detect clam disease

...e 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 spreads from clam to clam, infecting the clam by secreting a thick mucus layer to insulate itself from ...

When the going gets tough, slime molds start synthesizing

In times of plenty, the uni-cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum leads a solitary lif...ive and prosper in challenging ecosystems." When slime molds starve, they collectively form a multicellular slug-like creature that locomotes en masse to a...

Like a snail through the intestinal canal

...ard 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 intestinal robot should also have a similar layer to use. To achieve this, an adhesive layer is added t...

Search on for treatment of slow-healing wounds

...face, 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 hard-to-kill infections on medical implants. "Our hypothesis is that once a biofilm starts in a wound it...

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 how bacterial communities exist in nature. A letter published in today’s online edition of Nature show...