The journal Critical Review In Eukaryotic Gene Expression has just published an interesting article entitled: “Fungal And Bacterial Biodeterioration Of Outdoor Canvas Paintings: The Case Of The Cloisters Of Quito, Ecuador.”
Tag: Microbiology
Food claiming to have ‘wild mushrooms’ rarely does
Harvesting wild mushrooms requires an expert eye, making products containing wild fungi expensive. Due to minimal food regulations, it’s nearly impossible to know what species are actually contained within. Sequencing revealed food products labeled with wild mushrooms mostly contained cultivated fungi and some mushrooms poisonous to humans.
Most of UC San Diego’s COVID-19 Cases Detected Early by Wastewater Screening
Part of UC San Diego’s Return to Learn program, wastewater screening helped prevent outbreaks by detecting 85 percent of cases early, allowing for timely testing, contact tracing and isolation.
Nitrogen Inputs in the Ancient Ocean
Nitrogen is vital for all forms of life¬: It is part of proteins, nucleic acids and other cell structures.
Newly Developed, Bioinspired Cell Delivery Vehicles
Nanocontainers can transport substances into cells where they can then take effect.
New research on the brain’s relay processes could guide treatment for certain brain disorders
New research shows cells gather more data than once believed inside the thal-amus, a relay station of sensory and motor abilities in the brain. That could change how medicine treats schizophrenia, epilepsy and other brain disorders.
Cell-analysis technique could combat tuberculosis
ITHACA, N.Y. – A new method that analyzes how individual immune cells react to the bacteria that cause tuberculosis could pave the way for new vaccine strategies against this deadly disease, and provide insights into fighting other infectious diseases around…
Interaction identified between SARS-CoV-2 and unusual RNA structures in human cells
Replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, depends on a series of interactions between viral proteins and different cellular partners such as nucleic acids (DNA or RNA). Characterizing these interactions is crucial to elucidate the process of viral replication…
Parkinson’s disease: How lysosomes become a hub for the propagation of the pathology
Over the last few decades, neurodegenerative diseases became one of the top 10 global causes of death. Researchers worldwide are making a strong effort to understand neurodegenerative diseases pathogenesis, which is essential to develop efficient treatments against these incurable diseases.…
Global warming may limit spread of dengue fever, new research finds
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Infection with dengue virus makes mosquitoes more sensitive to warmer temperatures, according to new research led by Penn State researchers. The team also found that infection with the bacterium Wolbachia, which has recently been used to…
Fully booked at the bottom of the sea: There seems no room for new bacteria on sand grains
Bacteria on the sand on the ocean floor do not change between the seasons. Presumably, there is simply no room for change.
Microbes play role in corn ‘hybrid vigor’
The tiny organisms living in soil may have a greater effect on the yield and pest and disease resistance of crop plants grown in that soil than previously known. Researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Kansas…
How does the structure of cytolysins influence their activity?
Although Enterococcus faecalis is usually an innocuous member of the bacterial community in the human gut, it can also cause several infections, including liver disorders. The bacteria produce cytolysins, which are molecules that destroy cells. In a new study, researchers…
Traditional Japanese food may hold building blocks of COVID-19 treatments
Natto, a fermented soybean dish often served for breakfast in Japan, originated at the turn of the last millennium but may hold an answer to a modern problem: COVID-19, according to a new study based on cell cultures. Long thought…
Tiny organisms shed big light on ocean nutrients
As the world warms, sweeping changes in marine nutrients seem like an expected consequence of increased ocean temperatures. However, the reality is more complicated. New research suggests that processes below the ocean surface may be controlling what is happening above.…
Is Bacterial Acidity a Key to Tackle Antimicrobial Resistance?
Decreasing bacterial acidity could help reduce antimicrobial resistance by eliminating bacteria that can survive being treated with antibiotics.
15,000-year-old viruses discovered in Tibetan glacier ice
Scientists who study glacier ice have found viruses nearly 15,000 years old in two ice samples taken from the Tibetan Plateau in China. Most of those viruses, which survived because they had remained frozen, are unlike any viruses that have been cataloged to date.
Mycoplasma mobile moves into overdrive: Twin motor modified from ATP synthase discovered
Scientists discover gliding machinery for Mycoplasma mobile to be a new structure that could share ancestry with ATP synthase
No IgA leads to intestinal inflammation in mice
Tokyo, Japan – While researchers have known for years that immunoglobulin A (IgA) is important for gut health, it has remained unclear exactly what role it plays in preventing infection and disease. But now, researchers from Japan have found that…
A simple compound to control complex gut microbes
Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) have discovered that acetate, a major metabolite produced by some intestinal bacteria, is involved in regulating other intestinal bacteria. Specifically, experiments showed that acetate could trigger an immune response against…
Ocean microbes team up brilliantly to gather food when it’s scarce
WOODS HOLE, Mass. – What’s a hungry marine microbe to do when the pickings are slim? It must capture nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus, or iron – to survive, yet in vast expanses of the ocean, nutrients are extremely scarce. And…
Add fatty acid to taste
New technology reveals single cancer cells have different appetites for fatty acids
A new avenue for fighting drug-resistant bacteria
Targeting an RNA sequence in pathogenic bacteria could make them more sensitive to antibiotics
Sperm migration in the genital tract: computer simulations identify factors for success
During mating in wildlife species, males transfer millions of sperm into the female genital tract. On the way to the egg cell the sperm have to pass through the genital tract. Very few of the sperm cells actually succeed in…
Nitrogen-producing process of anammox bacterium finally uncovered
After years of research, the molecular structure of the enzyme responsible for a large part of the global nitrate and nitrogen production by bacteria has finally been uncovered. The anammox bacterium and other bacteria use this enzyme to convert toxic…
Human waste contaminating urban water leads to ‘superbug’ spread — study
Contamination of urban lakes, rivers and surface water by human waste is creating pools of ‘superbugs’ in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) – but improving access to clean water, sanitation and sewerage infrastructure could help to protect people’s health, a…
Modified yeast inhibits fungal growth in plants
External application could reduce agricultural reliance on fungicides
Kelp for corn? Illinois scientists demystify natural products for crops
URBANA, Ill. – Corn growers can choose from a wide array of products to make the most of their crop, but the latest could bring seaweed extract to a field near you. The marine product is just one class in…
Antibiotics in early life could affect brain development
Exposure to antibiotics in utero or after birth could lead to brain disorders in later childhood, says Rutgers researcher
Oldest fossils of methane-cycling microbes expand frontiers of habitability on early Earth
A team of international researchers, led by the University of Bologna, has discovered the fossilised remains of methane-cycling microbes that lived in a hydrothermal system beneath the seafloor 3.42 billion years ago. The microfossils are the oldest evidence for this…
Seven degrees from one trillion species of microbes
Global Microbiome Transition Network hints at origins and evolution paths of microbiomes
€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.
Mechanical stimuli significantly influence organ growth
Organoids help understand the complex interactions of cells and tissue
Symbionts sans frontieres: Bacterial partners travel the world
Some bacterial symbionts in travel the globe and are true cosmopolitans
Match matters: The right combination of parents can turn a gene off indefinitely
UMD scientists discover that mating can cause epigenetic changes in nematode worms that last for 300 generations
Computer-assisted biology: Decoding noisy data to predict cell growth
Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science have designed a machine learning algorithm to predict the size of an individual cell as it grows and divides. By using an artificial neural network that does…
Scientists explore seamounts in Phoenix Islands Archipelago, gain insights into deep water diversity
Marine scientists aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor have identified likely new marine species and deep sea organisms on nine seamounts that were explored for the first time in the remote Phoenix Islands Archipelago. In a 34-day expedition that…
More ancestral enzyme
Molecular evolution of enzyme beyond recruit hypothesis
Prize winner uncovers the link between the microbiome, metabolites and neurodegeneration
Eran Blacher is the 2021 winner of the NOSTER & Science Microbiome Prize for his work in exploring the relationship between the microbiome and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The findings reveal new…
The shape of nanoparticles in body fluids may help identify the type of cancer
A recent study by scientists from Japanese universities has shown that the shape of cell-derived nanoparticles, known as “extracellular vesicles” (EVs), in body fluids could be a biomarker for identifying types of cancer. In the study, the scientists successfully measured…
Anti-coagulant drug could treat COVID-19’s emerging variants
New targetable site on the COVID-19 spike protein discovered
Mount Sinai research reveals how Ebola virus manages to evade the body’s immune defenses
New York, NY (July 6, 2021) – Mount Sinai researchers have uncovered the complex cellular mechanisms of Ebola virus, which could help explain its severe toll on humans and identify potential pathways to treatment and prevention. In a study published…
Microscopy technique makes finer images of deeper tissue, more quickly
Researchers could rapidly obtain high-resolution images of blood vessels and neurons within the brain.
Secret to weathering climate change lies at our feet
New research on the microbiome of grass shows that the future lies with healthy bacteria
Eight new studies to investigate COVID-19 variants of concern in Canada
The research projects span from investigating the social factors that may protect Indigenous peoples — or increase their vulnerability to — COVID-19 and VOCs, to the creation of a Canadian Wastewater Surveillance Database
New signaling pathway could shed light on damage repair during brain injury
The study has uncovered a signaling pathway that causes neural cells to enter divisions after damage
SARS-CoV-2 encoded miRNA is a biomarker for stratification of severe patients
In a retrospective, multi-centre cohort study conducted by researchers from Nanjing University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Jinling Hospital and the Second Hospital of Nanjing, a microRNA-like small RNA encoded by SARS-CoV-2 was identified in the serum of COVID-19…
Novel coronavirus infects and replicates in salivary gland cells
A study conducted at the University of São Paulo suggests that tissues specializing in saliva production and secretion serve as reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2, magnifying its infectious potential.
Fecal transplant plus fibre improves insulin sensitivity in severely obese
Research provides further evidence the microbiome can benefit patients’ health, says researcher Karen Madsen.
More filling? Tastes great? How flies, and maybe people, choose their food
Flies have discriminating taste. Like a gourmet perusing a menu, they spend much of their time seeking sweet nutritious calories and avoiding bitter, potentially toxic food. But what happens in their brains when they make these food choices? Yale researchers…