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UrduResearch led by a multi-institutional study found that microbes interact with sulfur- and nitrogen-rich compounds, possibly from mosses in bogs. This interaction appears to contribute to greenhouse gas production.
Tag: microbes
Identifying the genes that viruses ‘steal’ from ocean microbes
A new study gets scientists closer to more fully understanding where viruses fit into the global ocean picture of cycling nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and, of particular interest, carbon.
Turning bacteria into bioplastic factories
Biologists find new ways to encourage the plastic-producing power of purple microbes.
Revealing the Mysteries Within Microbial Genomes
A new technique developed at Berkeley Lab will make it much easier for researchers to discover the traits or activities encoded by genes of unknown function in microbes, a key step toward understanding the roles and impact of individual species within the planet’s diverse microbiomes.
FAU Lands $1.3M NSF Grant to Boost Dryland Soil Quality Amid Climate Stressors
Drylands, found across every continent, cover about 45% of the Earth’s land surface and support 38% of the human population. The NSF grant will enable scientists to enhance understanding of climate resistance of individual microbes and to improve microbial remediations to reduce soil degradation under climate change.
Getting to the Root of a Plant’s Success
Plants are powerful factories – they can turn basic ingredients like carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight into oxygen, sugars, and plant mass. But plants don’t do all of this work on their own. Below the soil’s surface, plant roots work with tiny microbes to gain access to the nutrients they need to survive.
Although Tiny, Peatland Microorganisms Have a Big Impact on Climate
Polyphenols are generally toxic to microorganisms. In peatlands, scientists thought microorganisms avoided this toxicity by degrading polyphenols using an oxygen-dependent enzyme, and thus that low-oxygen conditions inhibit microbes’ carbon cycling.
Tip Sheet: Summer science education, new chief nursing officer, DEI program updates — and a new endpoint for multiple myeloma
Below are summaries of recent Fred Hutch Cancer Center research findings, patient stories and other news.
Fluctuating cellular energy drives microbial bioproduction
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis study how to turbo charge microbial bioproduction
Largest-ever antibiotic discovery effort uses AI to uncover potential cures in microbial dark matter
Almost a century ago, the discovery of antibiotics like penicillin revolutionized medicine by harnessing the natural bacteria-killing abilities of microbes. Today, a new study co-led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that natural-product antibiotic discovery is about to accelerate into a new era, powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Different Microorganisms Have a Taste for Different Flavors of Ammonia
Ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOMs) use ammonia as an energy source while converting it to nitrite and play a pivotal role in the global nitrogen cycle. This study explored whether different AOM species preferred to use urea over ammonia. It found that some AOMs preferred urea while others used ammonia and urea simultaneously.
“Organic Fertilizer from Cassava Waste” An Innovation from Chula to Replace Chemical Fertilizers and Increase the Value of Agricultural Waste
A Chula researcher has been successful in adding value to agricultural waste generated by industrial factories by transforming cassava waste and sewage sludge into organic fertilizer to replace the use of chemical fertilizers. He has also come up with a special formula of microbial inoculum that increases nutrients needed by plants.
Surprising Strategies: Scientists Quantify the Activity of Algal-Associated Bacteria at the Microscale
Microalgae in water are responsible for roughly 50% of the photosynthesis that converts carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into organic carbon. Researchers have now quantified the activity in the microbiome associated with these microalgae to investigate how the microbiome’s members process and exchange carbon and nitrogen from algal cells. They used isotopes and high-resolution imaging mass spectrometry to quantify these exchanges at the single-cell level.
Root microbes may be the secret to a better tasting cup of tea
You’d think the complex flavor in a quality cup of tea would depend mainly on the tea varieties used to make it.
Smoking has long-term effects on the immune system
Like other factors such as age, sex and genetics, smoking has a major impact on immune responses.
Groundbreaking study on decomposing microbes could help transform forensic science
For the first time, researchers have identified what appears to be a network of approximately 20 microbes that universally drive the decomposition of animal flesh.
Researchers Directly Detect Interactions Between Viruses and their Bacterial Hosts in Soils
Bacteriophages are common in soil ecosystems, but many of these phages and the bacteria they target have not been identified.
Good bacteria for bad wounds
Empa researchers are developing a dressing containing probiotic lactobacilli. These are intended to heal chronically infected wounds by destroying persistent biofilms, the scientists report in a study published in the scientific journal Microbes and Infection.
RUDN Agronomists Found Microbes to Protect Tomatoes from Dangerous Fungus
RUDN University agronomists and colleagues from Tunisia have discovered a way to stop the spread of a phytopathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea. It affects crops, especially tomatoes. The Trichoderma fungus and the Pseudomonas bacterium can protect the crop from this pathogen
Metal-loving microbes could replace chemical processing of rare earths
Cornell University scientists have characterized the genome of a metal-loving bacteria with an affinity for rare earth elements. The research paves the way towards replacing the harsh chemical processing of these elements with a benign practice called biosorption.
Innovative Techniques Provide New Means to Monitor Coral Reef Health
With coral reefs worldwide undergoing unprecedented stressors due to climate change and other human pressures, a large-scale application of innovative techniques shows promise for detecting the health condition of reefs.
Fast-Track Strain Engineering for Speedy Biomanufacturing
Berkeley Lab scientists are accelerating and streamlining the process of engineering microbes to produce important compounds with commercial-ready efficiency.
Bacteria generate electricity from wastewater
“We engineered E. coli bacteria, the most widely studied microbe, to generate electricity,” says Professor Ardemis Boghossian at EPFL. “Though there are exotic microbes that naturally produce electricity, they can only do so in the presence of specific chemicals.
New study will compare microbes on fresh produce from gardens versus supermarkets
New University of Oregon research will investigate how microbes found on produce affect the gut microbiome, and compare how those microbes differ between produce from a home garden versus those from the supermarket.
Beneficial bacteria sense gut mucus to stay in line
The findings point to possible mechanisms behind intestinal conditions like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and also suggest avenues to develop more effective probiotics.
Making Renewable, Infinitely Recyclable Plastics Using Bacteria
In a study published today, researchers successfully engineered microbes to make biological alternatives for the starting ingredients in an infinitely recyclable plastic known as poly(diketoenamine), or PDK.
Engineering New Metabolic Pathways that Function Across Microbial Kingdoms
Microbes have enormous potential to produce metabolites with potential industrial applications. To do so, microbes use groups of genes called biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that code for the sets of necessary enzymes. Scientists have computationally predicted the products of hundreds of thousands of BGCs, but have experimentally confirmed fewer than 2,000 of them. Researchers have now developed a computational and experimental strategy to redesign BGCs and determine the natural chemical products they create.
Perfect ‘Pathogen’ Storm: Vibrio Bacteria, Sargassum and Plastic Marine Debris
Little is known about the ecological relationship of Vibrio bacteria with Sargassum. Evidence also is sparse as to whether vibrios colonizing plastic marine debris and Sargassum could potentially infect humans. As summer kicks off and efforts are underway to find solutions to repurpose Sargassum, could these substrates pose a triple threat to public health? Results of a study representing the first Vibrio spp. genome assembled from plastic finds Vibrio pathogens have the unique ability to “stick” to microplastics, harboring potent opportunistic pathogens.
Predicting Changes in Microbial Food Webs
Increasing temperature or nutrients in an ecosystem can destabilize food webs, but when temperature and nutrients increase together it can be difficult to predict the combined effects. This study examined a laboratory microbial food web consisting of bacterial prey and protist predators. It found that temperature and nutrients can alter the dynamics of microbial communities by changing how species’ abundances and average body sizes relate to each other.
Dual nature of beneficial bacteria
UD1022, a patented beneficial bacteria, can protect alfalfa plants from fungal pathogens that cause plant disease. But plant growth-promoting bacteria like UD1022 can have a dark side and antagonize other beneficial bacteria present in soil.
BIGTUNA Bioimaging Tool Helps Researchers See Small
A new nano-optical bioimaging technology in development at PNNL enables researchers to watch climate-bellwether microbes exchange metabolites and other essential signals.
Hijacking the Hijackers: Engineering Bacterial Viruses to Genetically Modify their Hosts
Most methods of editing bacterial genomes use plasmids to transfer DNA between bacterial cells, but this approach isn’t always efficient in mixed microbial communities. This research instead developed a new phage-based DNA delivery tool that leverages these viruses’ ability to inject DNA into host bacteria. The researchers also used this tool to edit individual genes inside a target host organism within a living microbial community.
MIRRI and USCCN enhance their cooperation to promote the valorization of microbial resources and innovation in biotechnology
Leading culture collection networks in the EU and the U.S. announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance their cooperation to promote microbial resources and innovation in biotechnology.
New technique makes gene editing at scale possible in animals, turning years of work into days and making new kinds of genetic experiments possible
A new gene editing technique developed by University of Oregon researchers compresses what previously would have been years of work into just a few days, making new kinds of research possible in animal models.
Chula Launches a Bioproduct “Microbes to Clean Up Oil Spill in the Ocean”
Chula Faculty of Science has developed bioproducts to clean up oil spills in the ocean from their research on oil-eating microbes while getting ready to expand to industrial-scale production for ecological sustainability.
With Roommates, It’s All About Chemistry, Molecularly Speaking
UC San Diego researchers describe how the microbiomes of people and the homes they live in interact and change each other.
WHOI scientists receive 2022 Simons Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution Awards
Two Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists have received prestigious Simons Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution Awards.
Deepest sediment core collected in the Atlantic Ocean
A team of scientists, engineers, and ship’s crew on the research vessel Neil Armstrong operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) recently collected a 38-foot-long cylindrical sediment sample from the deepest part of the Puerto Rico Trench, nearly 5 miles below the surface.
Science snapshots from Berkeley Lab
New Berkeley Lab breakthroughs: engineering chemical-producing microbes; watching enzyme reactions in real time; capturing the first image of ‘electron ice’; revealing how skyrmions really move
Study: Dental implant surfaces play major role in tissue attachment, warding off unwanted bacteria
The surface of implants, as well as other medical devices, plays a significant role in the adsorption of oral proteins and the colonization by unwanted microorganisms (a process known as biofouling), according to a new study led by the University at Buffalo and the University of Regensburg.
Solar-Powered Microbes to Feed the World?
Microbes have played a key role in our food and drinks – from cheese to beer – for millennia but their impact on our nutrition may soon become even more important.
Study Examines the Role of Deep-Sea Microbial Predators at Hydrothermal Vents
The hydrothermal vent fluids from the Gorda Ridge spreading center in the northeast Pacific Ocean create a biological hub of activity in the deep sea. There, in the dark ocean, a unique food web thrives not on photosynthesis but rather on chemical energy from the venting fluids. Among the creatures having a field day feasting at the Gorda Ridge vents is a diverse assortment of microbial eukaryotes, or protists, that graze on chemosynthetic bacteria and archaea.
€1 Million Prize for Plastics-to-Protein Research Awarded to Steve Techtmann, Ting Lu
Steve Techtmann has won the 2021 Future Insight Prize — awarded to innovative research in health, nutrition and energy — for his food generator concept.
Bioreactors chip away at nitrogen pollution
A recent study shows bioreactors effectively remove nitrogen over time
Microbial respiration with iron
Microbes “breathing in rust” plays an important role in soils
Story tips: Stealthy air leak detection, carbon to chemicals and recycling goes large
ORNL story tips: Stealthy air leak detection, carbon to chemicals and recycling goes large
In wild soil, predatory bacteria grow faster than their prey, NAU study shows
The study, led by Ecoss director Bruce Hungate and co-authored by many other NAU researchers, found that these predatory bacteria, which eat other bacteria, play an outsized role in how elements are stored in or released from soil.
Are there soil microbes under my fingernails?
Exposure to soil microorganisms, human health closely related
Story tips: Quantum building blocks, high-pressure diamonds, wildfire ecology, quick cooling tooling and printing on the fly
ORNL story tips: Quantum building blocks, high-pressure diamonds, wildfire ecology, quick cooling tooling and printing on the fly
Bacteria and Algae Get Rides in Clouds
Human health and ecosystems could be affected by microbes including cyanobacteria and algae that hitch rides in clouds and enter soil, lakes, oceans and other environments when it rains, according to a Rutgers co-authored study.