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Tag: "microbe" at biology news

New bacterium discovered -- related to cause of trench fever

...eagues from other institutions, found that the new microbe is genetically similar to one spread by body lice ...itor. They were again surprised to find that this microbe is the second Bartonella species to cause infection in AIDS patients. Like trench fever, cat scr...

The quest for an effective HIV vaccine presents new possibilities, challenges

...tem develops the ability to recognize the specific microbe and can protect the human body against it if it reappears. HIV, however, has thwarted scientists?efforts thus far to develop a classic preventive vaccine for the virus because of its ability to integrate into target cells and evade clearance by the i...

Uniform language for describing genes of pathogenic and beneficial microbes

... events that occur when a pathogenic or beneficial microbe encounters its host. Understanding these events is...any processes that make up the interplay between a microbe and its host.? Dr. Tyler added: “PAMGO started out with the goal of creating terms to describe how...

Cloning the smell of the seaside

... Andrew Johnston and his team at UEA isolated this microbe from the mud at Stiffkey saltmarsh to identify and extract the single gene responsible for the emission of the strong-smelling gas, dimethyl sulphide (DMS). "On bracing childhood visits to the seaside we were always told to 'breathe in that ozone...

A 'traffic light' for neurons means 'go' for improving brain research

... that another gene, NpHR, which is borrowed from a microbe called an archaebacterium, can make neurons less active in the presence of yellow light. Combined, the two genes can now make neurons obey pulses of light like drivers obey a traffic signal: Blue means "go" (emit a signal), and yellow means "stop" (d...

Bacteria control how infectious they become, study finds

...nk that RfaH is responsible for more than making a microbe infectious,?he continued. “Actually seeing what happens at the molecular level will help us figure out what else this protein regulates.? Svetlov and Artsimovitch conducted the study with Georgy Belogurov, a postdoctoral research associate in micro...

MIT biologists solve vitamin puzzle

...el method for identifying mutant strains of a soil microbe that could not form a symbiotic relationship with a plant. Walker's team has now found that one such mutant has a defective form of an enzyme known as BluB that leaves it unable to synthesize B12. BluB catalyzes the formation of the B12 fragmen...

Bacteria could steady buildings against earthquakes

... a natural soil bacterium, Bacillus pasteurii. The microbe causes calcite (calcium carbonate) to be deposited around sand grains, cementing them together. By injecting bacterial cultures, additional nutrients and oxygen, DeJong and his colleagues found that they could turn loose, liquefiable sand into a soli...

Creating new life forms that may help eradicate cancer affecting women

...ucts Central to this startling discovery is the microbe Listeria monocytogenes, a common bacterium found in milk, cheese and other dairy products. This microorganism apparently aids in fighting cancer by activating the body's own killer (cytotoxic T) cells to elicit a stronger than normal immune response...

Microbes compete with animals for food by making it stink

...h the antibiotic chloramphenicol added to suppress microbe growth. In the lab, stone crabs readily ate both freshly thawed menhaden and fish that had soaked in water with antibiotics, but refused to eat the rotten fish not protected from microbial attack. To determine if reducing bacterial growth affected...

Tuberculosis: The bacillus takes refuge in adipose cells

...tive for tuberculosis, people with no trace of the microbe in the lungs may develop some form of tuberculosis attacking the lungs, bones or genitals. It also suggests that isoniazid treatment, prescribed to the close friends and family of patients as a preventative measure, may in some cases not provide suff...

Most widely used organic pesticide requires help to kill

...ns it makes have been studied for decades, how the microbe goes about killing the insects it infects has been assumed to be a simple toxin-mediated disruption of the cells that line the insect gut. The damaged cells, according to the prevailing hypothesis, lead to starvation. An alternative hypothesis holds ...

Gut reaction: Researchers define the colon's genome

...terium, Bifidobacterium longum , and the archaeal microbe M. smithii . These known organisms showed striking similarity to much of the microbiome residents. Based on the sequence comparisons, the researchers conclude that the human GI tract hosts multiple strains of B. longum , and a majority of its arc...

MRSA vaccine shows promise in mouse study

...e. Two of those proteins, IsdA and IsdB, help the microbe acquire needed iron from the host's red blood cells. The other two, SdrD and SdrE, are thought to be involved in bacterial adhesion to host tissues. When tested alone as a vaccine, each of the four proteins provided only partial or no protection. ...

Methane-belching bugs inspire a new theory of the origin of life on Earth

...Penn State set out to show how an obscure undersea microbe metabolizes carbon monoxide into methane and vineg...wo camps has raged for two decades. By studying a microbe that Ferry discovered thriving in the oxygen-free, carbon-monoxide-rich sediment beneath kelp beds, ...

Gut microbes' partnership helps body extract energy from food, store it as fat

...cantly more fat than animals colonized with either microbe alone. M. smithii also benefited ?thanks to B. thetaioatomicron, it received increased amounts of formate, a product of polysaccharide fermentation that it covets and uses. "The presence M. smithii improved the overall efficiency of the digestive sy...

Ready, set, mutate?and may the best microbe win

...rgraduate Stephen Chen used a mutant strain of the microbe that was unable to make a key protein that the bacteria needed to regulate its metabolism at high temperatures. They grew the bacteria for one month in fermentor, raising the temperature a half degree Celsius each day. Over a span of 1,500 generatio...

DOE JGI finishes 100th microbial genome

...ns) Ronald Weiner, University of Maryland. Marine microbe degrades and recycles insoluble complex polysaccharides; potential for conversion of complex biomass to energy. Thermobifida fusca YX. David Wilson and Diana Irwin, Cornell University. Major degrader of organic materials. Moorella thermoacetica A...

Malaria, potato famine pathogen share surprising trait

...the pathogen that causes malaria in humans and the microbe that caused the Irish potato famine use identical ...ch causes malaria, and Phytophthora infestans, the microbe that triggers late potato blight in vegetables including potatoes, soybeans and tomatoes. "It sound...

APS lecturer shows rare video of 'teacher-student' immune cell interactions in live animal

...stem of a live mouse being challenged by a foreign microbe during a presentation at Experimental Biology 2006...t happens inside a mouse lymph node when a foreign microbe enters the body. The videos were made possible by recent technological advances together with techni...

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