MicrobeWorld News

Ocean Microbe Communities Changing, but Long-Term Environmental Impact Is Unclear

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:36:39 +0000

As oceans warm due to climate change, water layers will mix less and affect the microbes and plankton that pump carbon out of the atmosphere – but researchers say it’s still unclear whether these processes will further increase global warming or decrease it. But inadequate ocean monitoring an...

Your urinary tract: a two lane highway for E. coli

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:00:57 +0000

Cranberry juice, anyone? Most everyone has had to deal with a UTI at some point, but as common as the condition is, we still know little about how bacteria progress through the urinary tract. Observations have taught that bacteria may move from the urethra, into the bladder, then up the ureters ...

Confocal micrograph showing Shigella bacteria invading the intestinal lining.

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:50:55 +0000

Confocal micrograph showing Shigella bacteria (pink) invading the intestinal lining. The bacteria infects the cells by high-jacking the cell's internal actin skeleton (green) to facilitate its entry into the cell and spread into adjoining cells, using polymerizing actin comet tails as several ca...

Potential New Treatment Identified for Leishmaniasis

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:24:07 +0000

Researchers at the College of Life Sciences have identified fexinidazole as a possible, much-needed, new treatment for the parasitic disease visceral leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is named after William Leishman, a Glasgwegian doctor serving with the British Army in India, who first identified...

Preventing Bacteria from Falling in With the Wrong Crowd Could Help Stop Gum Disease

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:53:34 +0000

Stripping some mouth bacteria of their access key to gangs of other pathogenic oral bacteria could help prevent gum disease and tooth loss. The study, published in the journal Microbiology suggests that this bacterial access key could be a drug target for people who are at high risk of developin...

TWiM #26: Suum cuique

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:36:13 +0000

{joomp3_ext}http://traffic.libsyn.com/twimshow/TWiM026.mp3{/joomp3_ext}

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, and

TWiM 26 Letters

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:35:13 +0000

Peter writes:
Dear Twim team

An interesting paper on artificial selection of yeast giving rise to evolved clusters. The clusters evolved to be larger, produce multicellular progeny, and even s...

Growing up on a farm directly affects regulation of the immune system

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:02:32 +0000

Immunological diseases, such as eczema and asthma, are on the increase in westernised society and represent a major challenge for 21st century medicine. A new study has shown, for the first time, that growing up on a farm directly affects the regulation of the immune system and causes a reductio...

El podcast del microbio Nº 255: Hongos contra el picudo rojo (Fungi against the red palm weevil )

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:05:32 +0000

{mp3remote}http://radio.umh.es/programacion/2011-2012/Programa%20T%C3%BA,%20yo%20y%20los%20microbios/090112%20Programa%20TU,%20YO%20Y%20LOS%20MICROBIOS.mp3{/mp3remote} El podcast del Microbio Nº255 explains the use of the fungus Beauveria bassiana as bioinsecticide for the control of the red pa...

Can viruses horizontally transfer genes co-packaged from one host to another?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:48:59 +0000

It has long been known that viruses, in addition to their own genomes, encapsidate extraneous nucleic acids. Although this phenomenon has been verified in the prokaryotic world, in eukaryotes, the significance of these alternative nucleic acids could just be trivial, or, quite possibly evolutio...

Bacillus subtilis colonies

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:57:30 +0000

Irregular, umbonate, opaque Bacillus subtilis colonies on the surface of a nutrient agar plate. Taken from the Wistreich Collection, appearing exclusively on MicrobeWorld.

Mycoplasma - adhesion of symbiont infection structure to host

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:33:58 +0000

This scanning electron micrograph shows mycoplasma (colorized pink), a genus of bacteria that lack a cell wall. Without a cell wall they are unaffected by many common antibiotics, such as penicillin, or other beta-lactam antibiotics that work by targeting cell wall synthesis. These mycoplasma ar...

Strange life found in underwater caves - Biologists finding new microbes totally unknown elsewhere on Earth

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:24:41 +0000

Clues to how life evolved, not only on this planet but also possibly on alien worlds, might be found in underwater caves in the Bahamas, researchers say. The caves in question are called "blue holes," so-named because from the air, their entrances appear circular in shape, with different shad...

The search for life's stirrings

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:18:01 +0000

Scientists studying how life arose on Earth are stumped by several key steps in that eventual process, but a Harvard scientist studying the earliest cells says that seemingly intractable problems in this field have sometimes proved to have simple, even elegant solutions. Those pondering the e...

Modeling microbes to manage carbon dioxide

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:14:35 +0000

In the past decade, microbiologists began realizing that communities of microbes process energy and materials, which affects their environments. To understand how microbial communities function in a natural ecosystem, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists developed a novel kinetic mod...

El podcast del Microbio Nº 254: Microbiota y cerebro. (Microbiota and brain)

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:52:20 +0000

{mp3remote}http://radio.umh.es/programacion/2011-2012/Programa%20T%C3%BA,%20yo%20y%20los%20microbios/231211%20Programa%20TU,%20YO%20Y%20LOS%20MICROBIOS.mp3{/mp3remote} El podcast del Microbio Nº254 summarize the findins of Bravo et al published in PNAS about the modulation of emotional behaviour...

Oral bacterial colonies, including Capnocytophaga and Aggregatibacter

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:51:12 +0000

This color-enhanced photomicrograph shows different species of bacteria that cause dental plaque - a colorless film that forms on teeth caused by the growth of bacterial colonies. Plaque develops naturally, and in most cases can be easily removed with regular brushing. However, if left it can ha...

Food Poisoning: Understanding How Bacteria Come Back from the 'Dead'

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:29:59 +0000

Salmonella remains a serious cause of food poisoning in the UK and throughout the EU, in part due to its ability to thrive and quickly adapt to the different environments in which it can grow. New research involving a team of IFR scientists, funded by BBSRC, has taken the first detailed look at ...

Study shows electron-beam irradiation reduces virus-related health risk in lettuce, spinach

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:22:07 +0000

A team of scientists studying the effects of electron-beam irradiation on iceberg lettuce and spinach has had its research published in the February issue of the leading microbiology journal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, said the study’s lead investigator. The study quantified the ...

Salmonella cases linked to watermelon

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:07:37 +0000

Watermelons could be the cause of five Scottish cases of salmonella which have been linked to a UK-wide outbreak, health officials have said. Since the beginning of December, there have been 30 cases of the Salmonella Newport infection across the UK. Four of the five infections in Scotland...