Microbiology

Bacteria communicate using chemical signals and now scientists have described a previously unknown communication pathway that appears to be widely distributed - and even leads to pathogens. The investigation of bacterial communication is valuable because those pathways are a possible therapeutic target for new medicines. If the relevant communication options are prevented, the bacteria cannot develop their pathogenic properties. Different types of bacteria also have different methods of communication. A team led by Dr. Helge B. Bode, a Merck-endowed professor for molecular biotechnology at…

A new review of other studies concludes that viruses carried by commercial bees can jump to wild pollinator populations with potentially devastating effects. Pollinators in some regions have suffered declines and various hypotheses have been offered as to why. The researchers reviewed existing studies to determine the potential for disease emergence within wild pollinator communities based on known honey bee viruses. The main culprit of disease-related losses from commercial honeybee colonies is the Varroa mite. This parasite helps spread viral diseases and may increase their virulence…

Two miles below the surface of the ocean, researchers have discovered new microbes that "breathe" sulfate. These microbes, which have yet to be classified and named, exist in massive undersea aquifers -- networks of channels in porous rock beneath the ocean where water continually churns. About one-third of the Earth's biomass is thought to exist in this largely uncharted environment. Sulfate is a compound of sulfur and oxygen that occurs naturally in seawater. It is used commercially in everything from car batteries to bath salts and can be aerosolized by the burning of fossil fuels,…

Microbiologists rarely wash their jeans. The reason is because they know how to keep the color looking new without getting odors - they freeze their pants.  Freezing can even work in more extreme scenarios, like with waste water.  When waste water freezes, it is purified through the formation of a cleaner layer of ice. Then the clean layer of ice can be removed from the rest of the waste water, and the remaining waste water is more concentrated, which can be treated as needed with a lot less outside processing. Energy is required only for breaking the ice and transporting it from…

Bacteria in our digestive tract have evolved to help us break down and digest the complex carbohydrates that make up the yeast cell wall that give beer and bread their bubbles - and that could support the development of new treatments to help people fight off yeast infections and autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease, according to a new study. Evolving over the 7,000 years that we have been eating fermented food and drink, the ability of a common gut bacterium called Bacteroides thetaiotomicron to degrade yeasts is almost exclusively found in the human gut. The team says the…

The death of a three-year-old child caused by drinking unpasteurized milk late last year invited much commentary about food safety and regulation. But little has been said about the man who gave his name to the process that makes dairy products, and many other foods, safe for mass production: Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). While the natural food movement insists sterilization techniques destroy many nutritional benefits, there can be no doubt these same techniques have been instrumental in reducing morbidity and mortality from the consumption of bacteria-ridden food and drink. Of these,…

The distinctive "fecal prints" of microbes could provide a record of how Earth and life have co-evolved over the past 3.5 billion years as the planet's temperature, oxygen levels, and greenhouse gases have changed but it's been difficult to decipher much of the information contained in this record. A new project sheds light on the mysterious digestive processes of microbes, opening the way towards a better understanding of how life and the planet have changed over time. Using a new technique, researchers  focused on the microbes that live on the ocean floor where the microbes…

Parkinson's disease sufferers have a different microbiota in their intestines than healthy counterparts, they have less Prevotellaceae bacteria, according to a study conducted at the University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH).   But what does that even mean? Microbiome claims are in fashion but no one has been able to figure out if has any bearing on health. Yogurt companies and supplement makers are the only groups benefiting so far.  The study also found that the amount of bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family in the intestine was connected to…

Yeast cells can sometimes reverse the protein misfolding and clumping associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's, according to new research which contradicts the idea that once prion proteins have changed into the shape that aggregates, the change is irreversible. Prions are proteins that change into a shape that triggers their neighbors to change, also. In that new form, the proteins cluster. The aggregates, called amyloids, are associated with diseases including Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's. For yeast, having clumps of amyloid is not fatal. In a new study, researchers exposed…

Archaea are a family of single-celled organisms that can thrive in environments like boiling hydrothermal pools and smoking deep sea vents deep underground, which are too extreme for most other species to survive. Until the late 1970s, biologists thought that Archaea were just weird bacteria, but then a landmark analysis of their DNA showed that they represent an independent branch on the tree of life that stretches back more than three billion years.  Now they may be a new source of antibacterial drugs.  Researchers have discovered a functional antibacterial gene in Archaea…