Bacteria News

December 25, 2024

Top Headlines

Fly Vs. Wasp: Stealing a Defense Move Helps Thwart a Predator

Dec. 25, 2024 — Many flies are plagued by parasitic wasps, which lay their eggs in fly larvae, turning them into surrogate wombs for wasp larvae. One common fly has successfully fought off its wasp predator by stealing a gene from bacteria that originated in ...

Sugar Solution Fights Infection in Dairy Cows Just as Well as Antibiotics

Dec. 19, 2024 — A concentrated sugar solution could be just as effective as antibiotics at treating a common infection in dairy cows, according to a new ...

Evolutionary Study Reveals the Toxic Reach of Disease-Causing Bacteria Across the Plant Kingdom

Dec. 19, 2024 — The capacity of bacteria to spread disease across the Plant Kingdom may be much more widespread than previously suspected, according to new ...

How a New Gut Microbe Drives the Gut-Lung Axis

Dec. 19, 2024 — A team has discovered a new communication pathway between the gut and lung. Their findings highlight how a little-known member of the gut microbiome reshapes the lung immune environment to have both beneficial and detrimental effects on respiratory ...

Latest Headlines

updated 7:49pm EST

Potentially Harmful Bacteria Slip Through Antimicrobial Showerheads

Dec. 18, 2024 — To guard against harmful waterborne pathogens, many consumers, including managers of health-care facilities, install antimicrobial silver-containing showerheads. But researchers now report that these ...

After Lockdown, Immune System Reacts More Strongly to Viruses and Bacteria

Dec. 18, 2024 — New research shows that the lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on people's immune response to microorganisms. During the lockdown, inflammation level in the body was low, ...

Scientists Find a Vulnerability in Antibiotic Resistance Mechanism

Dec. 17, 2024 — Superbugs, bacteria that are immune to multiple antibiotics, pose a great challenge to modern medicine. Researchers have now identified a weakness in the bacterial machinery that drives antibiotic ...

'Bad' Bacteria Can Trigger Painful Gut Contractions; New Research Shows How

Dec. 17, 2024 — A new study shows how one kind of bacteria, Vibrio cholerae, triggers painful intestinal contractions by activating the immune system. The research also finds a more general explanation for how the ...

First Full Characterization of Kidney Microbiome Unlocks Potential to Prevent Kidney Stones

Dec. 11, 2024 — Researchers have found definitive proof of a kidney microbiome that influences renal health and kidney stone formation, demonstrating that the ...

Staphylococcus Aureus Thwarts Vaccines by Turning on a Protein That Halts Immune Response

Dec. 16, 2024 — After dozens of clinical trials, there are still no effective vaccines against Staphylococcus aureus. In two new studies, scientists report that the ...

Diverse Virus Populations Coexist on Single Strains of Gut Bacteria

Dec. 12, 2024 — A study offers evidence that a single bacterial species -- the host of the phage -- can maintain a diverse community of competing phage species. Knowing how more than one kind of virus can survive ...

New, Simple, and Natural Method for Producing Vitamin B2

Dec. 11, 2024 — Many vitamins are produced in chemical factories, often synthetically, but researchers have succeeded in developing a natural and simple method for producing vitamin B2: by gently heating lactic acid ...

Evaluating Food Safety Control Strategies for Produce Industry

Dec. 12, 2024 — Leafy greens can become contaminated with pathogenic E. coli or other bacteria through splashes of soil or contaminated irrigation water in the field, or through processing and handling. Growers and ...

From Yemen to Mayotte, the Spread of a Highly Drug-Resistant Cholera Strain

Dec. 13, 2024 — Scientists have revealed the spread of a highly drug-resistant cholera ...

Activating the Hidden Pharmaceutical Potential of Bacteria

Dec. 13, 2024 — Microorganisms produce a wide variety of natural products that can be used as active ingredients to treat diseases such as infections or cancer. The blueprints for these molecules can be found in the ...

Scientists Collect 'Microbial Fingerprints' Found in Household Plumbing

Dec. 12, 2024 — Household plumbing is alive with microbes; environmental engineers are working to study those ecosystems to ensure clean water flows in ...

How the Dirt Under Our Feet Could Affect Human Health

Dec. 12, 2024 — Researchers are linking human activity to increased gene transfer from soil bacteria to ...

Ugh, My Stomach: Identifying Amino Acids That Prevent Sporulation in Food Poisoning

Dec. 12, 2024 — A team analyzed the amino acids that affect the formation of spores in a bacterium that causes food poisoning, Clostridium perfringens, and identified serine as an amino acid that inhibits spore ...

'Superman' Bacteria Offer a Sustainable Boost to Chemical Production

Dec. 11, 2024 — Industry -- particularly the pharmaceutical industry -- is deeply reliant on bacteria in their production. Now, researchers present a 'superman suit' to put on the bacteria, so that they ...

Scientists Transform Ubiquitous Skin Bacterium Into a Topical Vaccine

Dec. 11, 2024 — Scientists' findings in mice could translate into a radical, needle-free vaccination approach that would also eliminate reactions including fever, swelling and ...

Tiny Poops in the Ocean May Help Solve the Carbon Problem

Dec. 10, 2024 — Some of the world's smallest animals and their tiny poops could aid in the fight against climate change. A study reports that clay dust sprayed on the surface of seawater converts free-floating ...

A Breakthrough Tool for Detecting Problems During Protein Synthesis

Dec. 6, 2024 — A newly developed luciferase-based reporter can detect problems in protein translocation and disulfide bond formation in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Inspired by natural mechanisms found in ...

Possible Colon Cancer Vaccine Target Uncovered in Bacteria

Dec. 4, 2024 — By comparing cancer incidence rates with genomic surveillance data, researchers suggest that higher rates of certain cancers in the UK and other countries may be linked to two bacterial strains. ...

Natural 'Biopesticide' Against Malaria Mosquitoes Successful in Early Field Tests

Dec. 4, 2024 — An experimental bacteria-derived biopesticide is highly effective in killing malaria-carrying mosquitoes, including those that have developed resistance to chemical pesticides, according to initial ...

Tiny Dancers: Scientists Synchronize Bacterial Motion

Dec. 3, 2024 — Researchers at TU Delft have discovered that E. coli bacteria can synchronize their movements, creating order in seemingly random biological systems. By trapping individual bacteria in ...

Combo-Drug Treatment to Combat Melioidosis

Dec. 3, 2024 — A new approach could herald a shift in the way we use antibiotics. By attacking the pathogen's unique and hidden metabolic 'vulnerabilities,' researchers offers a new tool in the ...

Peat-Bog Fungi Produce Substances That Kill Tuberculosis-Causing Bacteria

Dec. 3, 2024 — An analysis of fungi collected from peat bogs has identified several species that produce substances toxic to the bacterium that causes the human disease tuberculosis. The findings suggest that one ...

How a Middle Schooler Found a New Compound in a Piece of Goose Poop

Dec. 2, 2024 — A group of young students became bonafide biomedical scientists before they even started high school. Through a partnership with a nearby university, the middle schoolers collected and analyzed ...

All People Are Unique -- Also in the Gut

Dec. 2, 2024 — A new study increases our knowledge about the gut and the life of gut bacteria. The study shows, among other things, that changes in the gut environment have an impact on the composition and activity ...

Enterococcus Helps E. Coli 'Armor Up' in Dog, Poultry Co-Infections

Dec. 2, 2024 — A new study finds that two subtypes of pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) produce five to 16 times more protective capsular 'slime' when Enterococcus faecalis (EF) is present. The ...

Bacteria Ditch Tags to Dodge Antibiotics

Nov. 29, 2024 — Bacteria modify their ribosomes when exposed to widely used antibiotics, according to new research. The modified ribosomes have changes specifically in the regions where antibiotics latch on to and ...

Structural Link for Initiation of Protein Synthesis in Bacteria

Nov. 28, 2024 — An international team of scientists have used advanced microscopy to image how ribosomes recruit to ...

Researchers Find That Intestinal Infections Change Bile Composition

Nov. 26, 2024 — Researchers have identified a new axis of host defense by studying what happens during enteric infection -- a term that encompasses all types of intestinal infections including so called ...

Simple Lab-Free Test to Detect Bacteria in Fluids from Water to Urine

Nov. 26, 2024 — Engineers and biochemists have brought their skills together to make it possible for untrained users to confirm contamination in fluids using a biogel test that changes color in the presence of such ...