Common Wristbands ‘Hotbed’ for Harmful Bacteria Including E. Coli, Staphylococcus

Routinely cleaning wristbands is generally ignored. New research finds 95 percent of wristbands tested were contaminated. Rubber and plastic wristbands had higher bacterial counts, while gold and silver, had little to no bacteria. Bacteria found were common skin residents of the genera Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas, and intestinal organisms of the genera Escherichia, specifically E. coli. Staphylococcus was prevalent on 85 percent of the wristbands; researchers found Pseudomonas on 30 percent of the wristbands; and they found E. coli bacteria on 60 percent of the wristbands, which most commonly begins infection through fecal-oral transmission.

UC Irvine researchers create E. coli-based water monitoring technology

Irvine, Calif., Feb. 23, 2023 – People often associate Escherichia coli with contaminated food, but E. coli has long been a workhorse in biotechnology. Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have demonstrated that the bacterium has further value as part of a system to detect heavy metal contamination in water. E.

AF2Complex: Researchers Leverage Deep Learning to Predict Physical Interactions of Protein Complexes

Proteins are the molecular machinery that makes life possible, and researchers have long been interested in a key trait of protein function: their three-dimensional structure. A new study by Georgia Tech and Oak Ridge National Laboratory details a computational tool able to predict the structure protein complexes – and lends new insights into the biomolecular mechanisms of their function.

Silver Attacks Bacteria, Gets ‘Consumed’

As antibiotic-resistant bacteria become more prevalent, silver has seen steep growth in its use in things like antibacterial coatings. Still, a better understanding can provide clues on how to best apply it. In Chemical Physics Reviews, researchers monitored the interaction of silver nanoparticles with a nearby E. coli culture and found the silver undergoes several dramatic changes. Most notably, the E. coli cells caused substantial transformations in the size and shape of the silver particles.

Personalized Microrobots Swim Through Biological Barriers, Deliver Drugs to Cells

Biohybrid robots on the micrometer scale can swim through the body and deliver drugs to tumors or provide other cargo-carrying functions. To be successful, they must consist of materials that can pass through the body’s immune response, swim quickly through viscous environments and penetrate tissue cells to deliver cargo. In this week’s APL Bioengineering, researchers fabricated biohybrid bacterial microswimmers by combining a genetically engineered E. coli MG1655 substrain and nanoerythrosomes, small structures made from red blood cells.

A MOTHER’S BUGS

-Newborn mice derive protective antibodies from their mothers’ microbiota
-Antibodies derived from mothers’ microbiota ward off both localized and widespread systemic infections by the bacterium E. coli
-Study points to the role of maternal microbes in offspring protection and neonatal immunity
-Findings can inform development of microbe-based therapies against infectious diarrhea in infants

Single Mutation Dramatically Changes Structure and Function of Bacteria’s Transporter Proteins

Swapping a single amino acid in a simple bacterial protein changes its structure and function, revealing the effects of complex gene evolution, finds a new study published in the journal eLife. The study—conducted using E. coli bacteria—can help researchers to better understand the evolution of transporter proteins and their role in drug resistance.