Microbiology

Haloferax Volcanii: It's Life, Jim, But Not As We Know It

A rudimentary form of life, Haloferax volcanii, part of the family of single-celled organisms called archaea that until recently were thought to be a type of bacteria, is found in some of the harshest environments on earth. Now researchers have determined ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 4 2013 - 11:49am

Intestinal Bacteria Linked To Rheumatoid Arthritis

Researchers have linked Prevotella copri, a species of intestinal bacteria, to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, the first demonstration in humans that the chronic inflammatory joint disease may be mediated in part by specific intestinal bacteria. ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 5 2013 - 3:01pm

Hydrogenotaxis: Methane-Producing Methanococcus Maripaludis Swims To Hydrogen

A new study has affirmed the hypothesis that microorganisms which produce methane swim toward the hydrogen gas they need to stay alive. ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 10 2013 - 8:00am

Astrobiology: 3.5 Billion-year-old Bacterial Ecosystems Found In Australia

Mapping the rise of life during the period of Earth's early history is challenging. Earth's oldest sedimentary rocks are not only rare, but have almost always altered by hydrothermal and tectonic activity. But sometimes there are dramatic finds. ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 12 2013 - 4:18pm

Butyrate As Therapy: Fatty Acid Produced By Gut Bacteria Boosts Immune System

A new integrative medicine paper examines the role of gut bacteria on the maturation of the immune system and claims evidence supporting the use of butyrate as therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease, based on mouse models. Butyr ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 14 2013 - 10:13am

Genetically Modified Probiotic Cures Lab Animals Infected With Hookworm Parasite

Laboratory animals fed a modified version of a common genetically modified probiotic were completely cured of intestinal worms that belong to a family of parasites that currently infect 1.5 billion people, or almost one quarter of the world's populat ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 17 2013 - 1:43pm

In Viruses, Tidy Knots Are Faster

Viruses keep it simple and that makes them smart- though they are too elementary to be able to reproduce by themselves, they exploit the reproductive "machinery" of cells by inserting pieces of their own DNA so that it is transcribed by the host ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 29 2013 - 6:30am

Pyridomycin: Nature's Natural Antibiotic Against Tuberculosis

Modern science has made it possible to synthesize increasingly targeted drugs but Ma Nature is not out of it yet- it just took science to discover what nature could do. Pyridomycin, a substance produced by non-pathogenic soil bacteria, has been found to b ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 3 2013 - 11:24am

Mapping The Microbial Terroir Of Wine

Terroir is the term for the unique blend of a vineyard’s soils, water and climate that impacts the flavor and quality of wine. These unique microbial inputs are key to regional wine fermentations. A new study from UC Davis, MicroTrek, Inc. and Constellatio ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 3 2013 - 6:17pm

Pruno: Jailhouse Potato Wine Botulism Is Not As Delicious As It Sounds

Prisons have started to cut back on fruits and some vegetables for felons because they have discovered how to make booze with them.  It isn't as great as it sounds. Emergency unit physicians have report severe botulism poisoning from a batch of potat ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 13 2013 - 2:29pm