Microbiology Now - April 2011 Archives

Keeping beer fresh longer (4/30/2011)

Researchers are reporting discovery of a scientific basis for extending the shelf life of beer so that it stays fresh and tastes good longer. For the first time, they identified the main substances that cause the bitter, harsh aftertaste of aged beer and suggest that preventing the formation of these substances could help extend its freshness. Their findings appear in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. ...> Full Article

Giant fire-bellied toad's brain brims with powerful germ-fighters (4/30/2011)

Frog and toad skins already are renowned as cornucopias of hundreds of germ-fighting substances. Now a new report in ACS's Journal of Proteome Research reveals that the toad brains also may contain an abundance of antibacterial and antiviral substances that could inspire a new generation of medicines. ...> Full Article

Learning to tolerate our microbial self (4/29/2011)

The human gut is filled with 100 trillion symbiotic bacteria which we blissfully live with, although they have many features similar to infectious bacteria we react against. What decides whether we ignore -- or fight? In the case of a common "friendly" gut bacterium, Bacteroides fragilis, Caltech researchers have discovered the surprising answer: The decision is not made by us, but by the bacteria, who co-opt cells of the immune system for our benefit ... and theirs. ...> Full Article

Bacteria in wasp antennae produce antibiotic cocktails (4/29/2011)

Bacteria that grow in the antennae of wasps help ward off fungal threats by secreting a 'cocktail' of antibiotics explains a scientist at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate. ...> Full Article

Salmonella utilize multiple modes of infection (4/28/2011)

Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany, have discovered a new, hitherto unknown mechanism of Salmonella invasion into gut cells: In this entry mode, the bacteria exploit the muscle power of cells to be pulled into the host cell cytoplasm. Thus, the strategies Salmonella use to infect cells are more complex than previously thought. ...> Full Article

Study provides new way to classify E. coli bacteria and test for fecal contamination (4/28/2011)

The meaning of the standard fecal coliform test used to monitor water quality has been called into question by a new study that identified sources of Escherichia coli bacteria that might not indicate an environmental hazard. ...> Full Article

Scientists flex their muscles to solve an old problem (4/28/2011)

220 years ago, Luigi Galvani discovered that the muscles of a frog's leg twitch when a voltage is applied. Scientists from Italy, the UK and France have brought this textbook classic into the era of nanoscience. They used a new synchrotron X-ray technique to observe for the first time at the molecular scale how muscle proteins change form and structure inside an intact and contracting muscle cell. To be published April 11, 2011, in PNAS. ...> Full Article

Bacterial genome may hold answers to mercury mystery (4/27/2011)

A newly sequenced bacterial genome from a team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory could contain clues as to how microorganisms produce a highly toxic form of mercury. ...> Full Article

Simple fungus reveals clue to immune system protection (4/27/2011)

A discovery by Johns Hopkins scientists about how a single-celled fungus survives in low-oxygen settings may someday help humans whose immune systems are compromised by organ transplants or AIDS. ...> Full Article

Honey can reverse antibiotic resistance (4/26/2011)

Manuka honey could be an efficient way to clear chronically infected wounds and could even help reverse bacterial resistance to antibiotics, according to research presented at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate. ...> Full Article

Hunting for deadly bacteria (4/26/2011)

Biochemist Yingfu Li and his research team have developed a simple test that can swiftly and accurately identify specific pathogens using a system that will "hunt" for bacteria, identifying their harmful presence before they have a chance to contaminate our food and water. ...> Full Article

Scripps Research scientists find E. coli enzyme must move to function (4/25/2011)

Slight oscillations lasting just milliseconds have a huge impact on an enzyme's function, according to a new study by Scripps Research Institute scientists. Blocking these movements, without changing the enzyme's overall structure or any of its other properties, renders the enzyme defective in carrying out chemical reactions. ...> Full Article

Third dimension of specific cell cultivation (4/24/2011)

At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, researchers of the DFG Center for Functional Nanostructures succeeded in specifically cultivating cells on 3-D structures. The fascinating thing is that the cells are offered small "holds" in the micrometer range on the scaffold, to which they can adhere. Adhesion is possible to these holds only, not to the remaining structure. For the first time, cell adhesion and, hence, cell shape are influenced precisely in three dimensions. ...> Full Article

Insights gained from growing cold-causing virus on sinus tissue (4/23/2011)

Using sinus tissue removed during surgery at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have managed to grow a recently discovered species of human rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of the common cold, in culture. ...> Full Article

Antibiotic resistance spreads rapidly between bacteria (4/23/2011)

The part of bacterial DNA that often carries antibiotic resistance is a master at moving between different types of bacteria and adapting to widely differing bacterial species, shows a study made by a research team at the University of Gothenburg in cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology. The results are published in an article in the scientific journal Nature Communications. ...> Full Article

Positioning enzymes with ease (4/22/2011)

Jinglin Fu and his colleagues at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University have developed a superior method for immobilizing enzymes on surfaces, deftly controlling their orientation, improving their efficiency and rendering them more stable. The group's results appear in today's advanced online issue of PLoS ONE. ...> Full Article

Researchers identify new role for cilia protein in mitosis (4/21/2011)

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have described a previously unknown role for the cilia protein IFT88 in mitosis, the process by which a dividing cell separates its chromosomes containing the cell's DNA into two identical sets of new daughter cells. Published in advance online by Nature Cell Biology, this newly discovered function for IFT88 suggests a possible alternative or contributory cause for cilia-related diseases such as primary ciliary dyskinesia, and polycystic kidney disease. ...> Full Article

Structure formed by strep protein can trigger toxic shock (4/20/2011)

Strep can turn deadly when a protein found on its surface triggers a widespread inflammatory reaction. The protein links with a host protein that is normally involved in blood clotting to form scaffolds. These assemble into dense superstructures that immune cells mistake for blood clots and overreact, leading to sepsis, shock, organ failure and death. ...> Full Article

Cellular feast or famine (4/19/2011)

Study shows how cells decide whether they have enough fat -- a molecular checkpoint that, when disturbed, could lead to obesity or other diseases. ...> Full Article

In vitro infection and replication of hepatitis E virus in human hepatocytes (4/18/2011)

Groundbreaking data presented today demonstrate, for the first time, in vitro infection and replication of swine hepatitis E virus (HEV) in human hepatocytes. ...> Full Article

Hunger hormone enhances sense of smell (4/18/2011)

An appetite-stimulating hormone causes people and animals to sniff odors more often and with greater sensitivity, according to a new study in the April 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest ghrelin may enhance the ability to find and identify food. ...> Full Article

'Bacterial dirigibles' emerge as next-generation disease fighters (4/17/2011)

Scientists today reported development of bacteria that serve as mobile pharmaceutical factories, both producing disease-fighting substances and delivering the potentially life-saving cargo to diseased areas of the body. They reported on this new candidate for treating diseases ranging from food poisoning to cancer -- termed "bacterial dirigibles" -- at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, being held here. ...> Full Article

Antibiotics wrapped in nanofibers turn resistant disease-producing bacteria into ghosts (4/16/2011)

Encapsulating antibiotics inside nanofibers, like a mummy inside a sarcophagus, gives them the amazing ability to destroy drug-resistant bacteria so completely that scientists described the remains as mere "ghosts," according to a report today at the the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. ...> Full Article

?SKIP?-ing splicing forces tumor cells to undergo programmed cell death (4/15/2011)

When cells find themselves in a tight spot, the cell cycle regulator p21 halts the cell cycle, buying cells time to repair the damage, or if all else fails, to initiate programmed cell death. In contrast to other stress-induced genes, which dispense with the regular transcriptional entourage, p21Cip1 still requires SKIP, a transcription elongation factor that also helps with the editing of transcripts, to be expressed, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. ...> Full Article

Household bleach can decontaminate food prep surfaces in ricin bioterrorist attack (4/14/2011)

Help for a bioterrorist attack involving ricin, one of the most likely toxic agents, may be as close at hand as the laundry shelf, according to a report presented here today at the 241st National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). It concluded that ordinary household bleach appears to be an effective, low-cost, and widely available way to decontaminate food preparation surfaces in homes, restaurants, and processing plants that are tainted with ricin. ...> Full Article

Researchers make the leap to whole-cell simulations (4/13/2011)

Researchers have built a computer model of the crowded interior of a bacterial cell that -- in a test of its response to sugar in its environment -- accurately simulates the behavior of living cells. ...> Full Article

Accelerated lab evolution of biomolecules could yield new generation of medicines (4/13/2011)

Scientists at Harvard University have harnessed the prowess of fast-replicating bacterial viruses, also known as phages, to accelerate the evolution of biomolecules in the laboratory. The work could ultimately allow the tailoring of custom pharmaceuticals and research tools from lab-grown proteins, nucleic acids, and other such compounds. ...> Full Article

A new signaling pathway of the immune system is elucidated (4/12/2011)

A new signaling pathway, which is important for the regulation of the immune response and inflammation, was discovered by an international team of scientists led by prof Ivan Dikic from the Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany. The scientists studied the involvement of ubiquitin, a universally present signaling protein in the cell. ...> Full Article

Scientists unlock mystery of how the 22nd amino acid is produced (4/11/2011)

The most recently discovered amino acid, pyrrolysine, is produced by a series of just three chemical reactions with a single precursor -- the amino acid lysine, according to new research. Scientists at Ohio State University used mass spectrometry and a series of experiments to discover how cells make the amino acid, a process that until now had been unknown. ...> Full Article

Repulsive smell could combat bed bugs (4/10/2011)

Bed bugs are an increasingly common pest that necessitates extensive decontamination of homes. However, researchers from Lund and Sundsvall in Sweden have now discovered that young bed bugs produce a smell that repels other bed bugs. It is hoped that these findings could contribute to more effective control of the blood-sucking insects. ...> Full Article

Closer look at cell membrane shows cholesterol 'keeping order' (4/9/2011)

A team of scientists working at NIST and University of California, Irvine recently developed a way to magnify cell membranes dramatically and watch them move, revealing a surprising dependence on cholesterol within this boundary between the cell and the outside world. ...> Full Article

Immune therapy can control fertility in mammals (4/8/2011)

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have shown that it is possible to immunize mammals to control fertility. They say their technique could possibly be used on other mammals -- including humans -- because fertility hormones and their receptors are species-non-specific and are similar in both females and males. For pets, the technique could be an alternative to castration and adverse effects of hormone administration. ...> Full Article

New insight into how 'tidying up' enzymes work (4/7/2011)

A new discovery about how molecules are broken down by the body, which will help pharmaceutical chemists design better drugs, has been made by researchers at the University of Bristol. ...> Full Article

Researchers ID microbe responsible for methane from landfills (4/7/2011)

Researchers have long known that landfills produce methane, but had a hard time figuring out why -- since landfills do not start out as a friendly environment for the organisms that produce methane. New research from North Carolina State University shows that one species of microbe is paving the way for other methane producers. ...> Full Article

The killer within -- a novel bacterial suicide mechanism (4/6/2011)

The zeta toxins are a family of proteins that are normally present within various pathogenic bacteria and can mysteriously trigger suicide when the cells undergo stress. A team led by Anton Meinhart at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg has now found the mechanism underlying this programmed bacterial cell death. ...> Full Article

Blocking carbon dioxide fixation in bacteria increases biofuel production (4/5/2011)

Reducing the ability of certain bacteria to fix carbon dioxide can greatly increase their production of hydrogen gas that can be used as a biofuel. Researchers from the University of Washington, Seattle, report their findings in the current issue of online journal mBio. ...> Full Article

Researchers close in on technology for making renewable petroleum (4/5/2011)

University of Minnesota researchers are a key step closer to making renewable petroleum fuels using bacteria, sunlight and dioxide, a goal funded by a $2.2 million United States Department of Energy grant. ...> Full Article

Systems biologists use computer models to predict animal cell behavior (4/4/2011)

In the March 22 online edition of the journal Science Signaling, researchers from MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital report that they have created a new computational model that describes how intestinal cells in mice respond to a natural chemical called tumor necrosis factor (TNF). ...> Full Article

Seeing in stereo: Engineers invent lens for 3-D microscope (4/3/2011)

Engineers at Ohio State University have invented a lens that enables microscopic objects to be seen from nine different angles at once to create a 3-D image. Other 3-D microscopes use multiple lenses or cameras that move around an object; the new lens is the first single, stationary lens to create microscopic 3-D images by itself. ...> Full Article

Neutron analysis yields insight into bacteria for solar energy (4/3/2011)

Structural studies of some of nature's most efficient light-harvesting systems are lighting the way for new generations of biologically inspired solar cell devices. ...> Full Article

Researchers engineer E. coli to produce record-setting amounts of alternative fuel (4/2/2011)

In a study published online in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a team led by James C. Liao, Chancellor's Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA Engineering has shown success in producing 15 to 30 grams per liter of n-butanol by constructing a biochemical pathway and adding a driving force to E. coli, setting a record beyond current production practices. ...> Full Article

Researchers discover molecular determinant of cell identity (4/2/2011)

If a big bunch of your brain cells suddenly went rogue and decided to become fat cells, it could cloud your decision-making capacity a bit. Fortunately, early in an organism's development, cells make firm and more-or-less permanent decisions about whether they will live their lives as, say, skin cells, brain cells or, well, fat cells. ...> Full Article

Spacebound bacteria inspire earthbound remedies (4/1/2011)

Recent research aboard the Space Shuttle is giving scientists a better understanding of how infectious disease occurs in space and could someday improve astronaut health and provide novel treatments for people on Earth. ...> Full Article

Scientists take a look at systems biology and cellular networking (4/1/2011)

Systems biology holds promise for advances in such important areas as pharmaceuticals, environmental remediation and sustainable energy, but, according totwo leading authorities from Berkeley Lab, its most profound impact is that it might one day provide an answer to the central question: What is life? ...> Full Article

Most comprehensive collection of fungal cell biology movies ever published (4/1/2011)

A recent special edition of the journal Fungal Biology Reviews, published by Elsevier, on behalf of the British Mycological Society, features a total of 76 videos which together comprise the most comprehensive collection of fungal cell biology movies ever published. The movies were produced by Professor Gero Steinberg of the University of Exeter, UK, who is a renowned researcher in the field of fungal cell biology. ...> Full Article