Microbiology Now - March 2011 Archives

Enzyme can steer cells or possibly stop them in their tracks (3/31/2011)

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered that members of an enzyme family found in humans and throughout the plant and animal kingdoms play a crucial role in regulating cell motility. Their findings suggest an entirely new strategy for treating conditions ranging from diabetic ulcers to metastatic cancer. ...> Full Article

Green sludge can protect groundwater from radioactive contamination (3/31/2011)

Anyone planning a storage facility for atomic waste should make sure to bury their canisters in an area where green rust will form. ...> Full Article

Biodegradable tooth-binding micelles inhibit Streptococcus mutans biofilm growth (3/31/2011)

During the IADR/AADR/CADR General Session, lead researcher F. Cheni will hold an oral presentation on a research study titled "Biodegradable Tooth-binding Micelles Inhibit Streptococcus mutans Biofilm Growth." ...> Full Article

Bacterial wipes research study (3/30/2011)

If you have time to quickly swipe your pager or cell phone three times, that would be your best bet to get rid of most of the bacteria. And a simple tissue moistened with saline would do the trick. But if you only have time for a single swipe of a 'dirty' phone ? you'd be better off reaching for a disinfectant wipe. ...> Full Article

The development of better biotech enzymes (3/30/2011)

Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions, such as laundry detergent digesting protein stains, which are otherwise very difficult to remove. A research team led by professor Kam-bo Wong of the Centre for Protein Science and Crystallography, School of Life Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong demonstrated a fundamental principle in changing the activity of enzymes by means of protein engineering. ...> Full Article

Biofilm reorganization: Back to the theoretical drawing board (3/29/2011)

In a surprising new study, researchers using image-analysis methods similar to those employed in facial-recognition software have made a startling discovery that rules out the two main theories scientists had created to explain how bacteria self-organize into multicellular aggregate mounds. The study by researchers from Rice University and the University of Georgia has implications for biofilm research and appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...> Full Article

Toxoplasmosis: The strain explains severity of infection (3/29/2011)

Providing clues into why the severity of a common parasitic infection can vary greatly from person to person, a new Johns Hopkins study shows that each one of three strains of the cat-borne parasite Toxoplasma gondii sets off a unique reaction in the nerve cells it invades. ...> Full Article

How the slime mold gets organized (3/29/2011)

The so-called cellular slime mold, a unicellular organism that may transition into a multicellular organism under stress, has just been found to have a tissue structure that was previously thought to exist only in more sophisticated animals. What's more, two proteins that are needed by the slime mold to form this structure are similar to those that perform the same function in more sophistical animals. ...> Full Article

Maquipucuna cloud forest in Ecuador yields new species of yeast (3/28/2011)

In a unique collaboration between scientists from the UK, Ecuador and Réunion, a new species of yeast has been discovered growing on the fruit of an unidentified and innocuous bramble collected from the biodiversity-rich Maquipucuna cloud forest nature reserve, near Quito, in Ecuador. ...> Full Article

New vaccine candidate shows strong potential to prevent highly contagious norovirus (3/27/2011)

Scientists found that an experimental vaccine against human norovirus -- the bug behind 90 percent of highly contagious nonbacterial illnesses causing diarrhea and vomiting -- generates a strong immune response in mice without causing the animals any harm. Using a novel viral vector-based method to grow and deliver the vaccine that has shown promise in other agents designed to fight such infections as HIV and hepatitis C, they are the first to test this vaccine design method's effectiveness against the human norovirus. ...> Full Article

New measurement into biological polymer networks (3/26/2011)

The development of a new measurement technology under a research project funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation is probing the structure of composite and biological materials. ...> Full Article

More molecules for tuberculosis (3/26/2011)

Scientists are collaborating on a new international research project to identify antibiotics that can kill tuberculosis and fight resistant strains. ...> Full Article

Research team shapes cell behavior research (3/25/2011)

Syracuse University researchers have used shape memory polymers to provide greater insight into how cells sense and respond to their physical environment. ...> Full Article

Scientists reveal role of light sensor in temperature sensation (3/25/2011)

A light-sensing receptor that's packed inside the eye's photoreceptor cells has an altogether surprising role in cells elsewhere in the body, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered. Using fruit flies, they showed that this protein, called rhodopsin, also is critical for sensing temperature. ...> Full Article

Scientists grow personalized collections of intestinal microbes (3/25/2011)

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown they can grow and manipulate personalized collections of human intestinal microbes in the laboratory and pluck out particular microbes of interest. The research sets the stage for identifying new probiotics and evaluating in preclinical trials whether microbe transplants can restore the natural balance of intestinal bacteria in "sick" microbial communities. ...> Full Article

New microscope decodes complex eye circuitry (3/24/2011)

The sensory cells in the retina of the mammalian eye convert light stimuli into electrical signals and transmit them via downstream interneurons to the retinal ganglion cells which, in turn, forward them to the brain. The interneurons are connected to each other in such a way that the individual ganglion cells receive visual information from a circular area of the visual field known as the receptive field. Some ganglion cells are only activated, for example, when light falls on the center of their receptive fields and the edge remains dark (ON cells). ...> Full Article

Making viruses pass for 'safe' (3/23/2011)

Viruses can penetrate every part of the body, making them potentially good tools for gene therapy or drug delivery. But with our immune system primed to seek and destroy these foreign invaders, delivering therapies with viruses is currently inefficient and can pose a significant danger to patients. ...> Full Article

What is good for you is bad for infectious bacteria (3/22/2011)

Plants are able to protect themselves from most bacteria, but some bacteria are able to breach their defenses. In research to be published in Science on Friday, scientists have identified the genes used by some strains of the bacterium Pseudomonas to overwhelm defensive natural products produced by plants of the mustard family, or crucifers. ...> Full Article

Jekyll and Hyde: Cells' executioner can also stave off death (3/22/2011)

An enzyme viewed as an executioner, because it can push cells to commit suicide, may actually short circuit a second form of cell death, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered. The finding could shift drug discovery efforts, by leading scientists to rethink how proposed anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory drugs that target the enzyme, called caspase 8, are supposed to work. The results are described in this week's Nature. ...> Full Article

Algal antifreeze makes inroads into ice (3/21/2011)

Sea-ice algae -- the important first rung of the food web each spring in places like the Arctic Ocean -- can engineer ice to its advantage. The same gel-like mucus secreted by sea-ice algae as a kind of antifreeze against temperatures well below minus 10 C is also allowing algae to sculpt microscopic channels and pores in ice that are hospitable to itself and other microorganisms. ...> Full Article

Secrets of plague revealed (3/21/2011)

In work that is pushing the "diffraction barrier" associated with microscopic imaging of living cells, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., demonstrated the power of a new super-resolution microscopy technique called Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM), which can simultaneously image multiple molecules in living immune cells. ...> Full Article

Researchers define a new type of secretory cell in the intestine (3/20/2011)

The intestinal epithelium consists of four main specialized cell lineages: absorptive enterocytes and three secretory cell types known as enteroendocrine, Paneth, and goblet cells. But a rare, fifth type of intestinal cell called tuft cells also exists. Defined by the thick brush of long microvilli that project from their apical surface, tuft cells are seen in several epithelial tissues, yet little is known about their function due to a lack of tuft cell-specific markers. ...> Full Article

Protein identified that serves as a switch in a key pathway of programmed cell death (3/19/2011)

Work led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists identified how cells flip a switch between cell survival and cell death that involves a protein called FLIP. ...> Full Article

Using artificial, cell-like 'honey pots' to entrap deadly viruses (3/19/2011)

Researchers from NIST and Weill Cornell Medical College have designed artificial "protocells" that can lure, entrap and inactivate a class of deadly human viruses -- think decoys with teeth. ...> Full Article

Zooming in on the weapons of Salmonella (3/18/2011)

Bacteria like salmonellae infect their host cells by needle-shaped extensions which they create in large numbers during an attack. A group of Vienna-based scientists headed by Thomas Marlovits employed recently developed methods of cryo-electron microscopy and have been able to clarify the structure of this infection apparatus on the near-atomic scale. The exact knowledge of the needles' building plan may help to develop substances that interfere with its function and thus prevent infection. ...> Full Article

Scientists identify trigger in cat allergy (3/18/2011)

A breakthrough by scientists at the University of Nottingham could provide hope for any allergy sufferers who have ever had to choose between their health and their household pet. ...> Full Article

Malaria's weakest link (3/18/2011)

A group of researchers from EPFL's Global Health Institute and Inserm has discovered that a class of chemotherapy drugs originally designed to inhibit key signaling pathways in cancer cells also kills the parasite that causes malaria. The discovery could quickly open up a whole new strategy for combating this deadly disease. ...> Full Article

Study analyzes role of PARP enzyme in eukaryotes (3/17/2011)

An Ohio State University molecular biologist leveraged a supercomputer to help better define the family tree of a group of enzymes that have been implicated in a wide range of human diseases and are important targets for anti-cancer therapies. Along with several OSU colleagues, Rebecca S. Lamb, Ph.D., recently analyzed the evolutionary history of the poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase superfamily, proteins that are found in eukaryotes (animals, plants, molds, fungi, algae and protozoa). ...> Full Article

Research shows how bacteria communicate with each other (3/17/2011)

A pathway whereby bacteria communicate with each other has been discovered by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The discovery has important implications for efforts to cope with the spread of harmful bacteria in the body. ...> Full Article

Turning bacteria into butanol biofuel factories (3/16/2011)

While ethanol is today's major biofuel, researchers aim to produce fuels more like gasoline. Butanol is the primary candidate, now produced primarily by Clostridium bacteria. UC Berkeley chemist Michelle Chang has transplanted the enzyme pathway from Clostridium into E. coli, replaced two of five genes with enzymes from other microbes, and gotten the bacteria to churn out 10 times more n-butanol than competing microbes, close to the level needed for industrial scale production. ...> Full Article

How much can a cell uptake? (3/16/2011)

Immunological research at the University of Haifa, Israel, has made a new breakthrough, revealing a critical component in the "decision-making" process of white blood cells that play a role in the healing process from bacterial inflammation. "The process that we have discovered can assist in the development of drugs that are based on the natural processes that take place in the human body," explains Dr. Amiram Ariel of the University of Haifa. ...> Full Article

Researchers discover new shapes of microcompartments (3/15/2011)

Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered and explored new shapes of microcompartments, the molecular shells that encapsulate cellular components. ...> Full Article

Reviving 100-year-old resting spores of diatoms (3/15/2011)

Diatoms account for a large proportion of the phytoplankton found in the water, and live both in the open sea and in freshwater lakes. By reviving 100-year-old spores that had laid buried and inactive in bottom sediment, researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have shown that diatoms are also genetically stable and survival artists. ...> Full Article

Microscope could 'solve the cause of viruses' (3/14/2011)

University of Manchester scientists have produced the world's most powerful optical microscope, which could help understand the causes of many viruses and diseases. ...> Full Article

The connection between a cell's cytoskeleton and its surface receptors (3/14/2011)

New findings from researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto may shed light on the mechanisms that regulate the organization of receptors on the cell surface, a critical aspect of cell signaling not well understood at this time. ...> Full Article

Scientists say ocean currents cause microbes to filter light (3/13/2011)

Paul Matisse's glass-enclosed liquid sculptures contain an object whose movement through the liquid creates whorls that can be seen only because elongated particles trailing the object align with the direction of the current; light reflects off the particles, making the current visible to the viewer. Researchers at MIT recently demonstrated that this same phenomenon is responsible for the swirling patterns scientists typically see when they agitate a flask containing microbes in water; many microbes are themselves elongated particles that make the whorls visible. ...> Full Article

This microbe's for you: Brewery waste becomes scientific fodder for producing liquid biofuels (3/12/2011)

Gaining new insight into how efficiently the microbes in large bioreactors produce methane from brewery waste, Cornell scientists hope to use their new knowledge to shape these microbial communities to produce liquid biofuels and other useful products. ...> Full Article

Enzyme cocktail could eliminate a step in biofuel process (3/11/2011)

Conversion of biomass to fuel requires several steps: chemical pretreatment to break up the biomass, detoxification to remove the toxic chemicals required in pretreatment, and microbial fermentation to convert the soluble sugars to fuels. Virginia Tech researchers have discovered an enzyme mixture that works in the presence of the toxic infused liquid biomass (hydrolysate), meaning that the detoxification step is unnecessary. ...> Full Article

American Society for Microbiology to host 111th General Meeting in New Orleans (3/10/2011)

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) will hold its 111th General Meeting May 21-24, 2011, in New Orleans. The meeting will feature approximately 3,000 individual scientific presentations spanning the breadth of microbiology and has an expected attendance of 10,000. ...> Full Article

Researchers crack code to harmful brown tides (3/10/2011)

A team involving University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers has conducted the first-ever genetic sequencing of a harmful algal bloom species, cracking the genome of the micro-organism responsible for the Eastern Seaboard's notorious brown tides. ...> Full Article

New microscope produces dazzling 3-D movies of live cells (3/9/2011)

Scientists at Janelia Farm have invented a new microscope that uses an exquisitely thin sheet of light -- similar to that used in supermarket bar-code scanners -- to peer inside single living cells. The images they obtained reveal the three-dimensional shapes of cellular landmarks in unprecedented detail. ...> Full Article

The hunt for deadly pathogens (3/9/2011)

The causes of dreaded diseases such as Cholera, Anthrax, Rabies and AIDS are the main focus of a symposium at the German Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research. International scientists from all over the world will meet on March 3, 2011, to talk about the current state of infection research at the "Day on Deadly Killers." ...> Full Article

Liquid metal key to simpler creation of electrodes for microfluidic devices (3/8/2011)

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a faster, easier way to create microelectrodes, for use in microfluidic devices, by using liquid metal. Microfluidic devices manipulate small amounts of fluid and have a wide variety of applications, from testing minute blood samples to performing advanced chemical research. ...> Full Article

Applied physicists discover that migrating cells flow like glass (3/7/2011)

By studying cellular movements at the level of both the individual cell and the collective group, applied physicists have discovered that migrating tissues flow very much like colloidal glass. ...> Full Article

Scientists unravel the mysterious mechanics of spider silk (3/7/2011)

Scientists now have a better understanding of why spider silk fibers are so incredibly strong. Recent research, published by Cell Press on Feb. 15 in Biophysical Journal, describes the architecture of silk fibers from the atomic level up and reveals new information about the molecular structure that underlies the amazing mechanical characteristics of this fascinating natural material. ...> Full Article

Relaxation leads to lower elasticity (3/7/2011)

As they age many materials exhibit changes in their properties. Although such phenomena crop up in many domains, the underlying processes are oftentimes not fully understood. Particularly interesting in this context are polymer materials found in plastics and in biological systems. A group led by physicists from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen has developed a model system casting light on essential aspects of these processes. The March issue of Nature Materials presents their results. ...> Full Article

A new high-resolution method for imaging below the skin using a liquid lens (3/6/2011)

University of Rochester optics professor Jannick Rolland has developed an optical technology that provides unprecedented images under the skin's surface. The aim of the technology is to detect and examine skin lesions to determine whether they are benign or cancerous without having to cut the suspected tumor out of the skin and analyze it in the lab. ...> Full Article

Floating spores kill malaria mosquito larvae (3/5/2011)

There are over 200 million cases of malaria each year and, in 2009, malaria was responsible for 781,000 deaths worldwide. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes which breed in open water and spend much of their larval stage feeding on fungi and microorganisms at the water surface. New research published in BioMed Central's open-access journal Parasites and Vectors presents a method of dispersing pathogenic fungi as a means of preventing the spread of malaria. ...> Full Article

Shining a light on trypanosome reproduction (3/4/2011)

Compelling visual evidence of sexual reproduction in African trypanosomes, single-celled parasites that cause major human and animal diseases, has been found by researchers from the University of Bristol. ...> Full Article

Neisseria meningitidis disseminates itself by sending out 'scouts' (3/4/2011)

Although, in the majority of cases, the localized presence of Neisseria meningitidis in the throat has no consequence, it can sometimes lead to meningitis or septicaemia. The Avenir team directed by Guillaume Duménil within Inserm Mixed Research Unit 970, "Paris centre de recherche cardiovasculaire" at the Université Paris Descartes, has recently discovered how this bacterium disseminates, leaving the throat to pass into the bloodstream. The results of this research have been published in the Feb. 11, 2011, issue of the journal, Science. ...> Full Article

Researchers develop curious snapshot of powerful retinal pigment and its partners (3/4/2011)

In a Journal of Biological Chemistry "Paper of the Week," a Berlin-based research team reports that it has uncovered surprising new details about a key protein-protein interaction in the retina that contributes to the exquisite sensitivity of vision. Additionally, they say, the proteins involved represent the best-studied model of how other senses and countless other physiological functions are controlled. ...> Full Article

Gut bacteria can control organ functions (3/3/2011)

Bacteria in the human gut may not just be helping digest food but also could be exerting some level of control over the metabolic functions of other organs, like the liver, according to research published this week in the online journal mBio. These findings offer new understanding of the symbiotic relationship between humans and their gut microbes and how changes to the microbiota can impact overall health. ...> Full Article

Sleeping Trojan horse to aid imaging of diseased cells (3/3/2011)

A unique strategy developed by researchers at Cardiff University is opening up new possibilities for improving medical imaging. ...> Full Article

Everything you wanted to know about microbes and oil spills but were afraid to ask (3/3/2011)

Is it true that microbes cleaned up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Can bacteria really "eat" oil, and if so, how? To help clear up the confusion the American Academy of Microbiology has brought together the nation's leading experts to consider and answer some of the most frequently asked questions regarding microbes and oil spills.  ...> Full Article

First identification of endocrine disruptors in algae blooms (3/2/2011)

Scientists are reporting for the first time that previously unrecognized substances released by algae blooms have the potential to act as endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the normal activity of reproductive hormones. The effect is not caused by microcystin toxins, long recognized as potentially harmful to humans and aquatic animals, but as yet unidentified substances. As a result, the scientists are calling for a revision of environmental monitoring programs to watch for these new substances. ...> Full Article

New long-acting local anesthetic derived from algae effectively blocks pain in surgical patients (3/2/2011)

A US-Chile collaboration is bringing surgical patients closer to having a long-acting local anesthetic. In a randomized, double-blind trial, patients given neosaxitoxin, a new local anesthetic derived from algae, had significantly less postoperative pain and recovered about two days sooner than those given the commonly used local anesthetic bupivacaine. ...> Full Article

Cancer-causing virus exploits key cell-survival proteins (3/2/2011)

The human T-lymphotropic virus type 1, a cancer-causing retrovirus, exploits key proteins in host cells to extend the life of those cells, thereby prolonging its own survival and ability to spread, according to a new study. The virus, which causes adult T-cell leukemia and lymphoma, produces a protein called p30 that targets two important cell proteins, one involved in DNA damage repair, the other involved in the destruction of proteins within the cell. ...> Full Article

Researchers achieve a full film frame of a family of proteins essential for cell function (3/1/2011)

Researchers at IRB Barcelona have completed the 3-D structural sequence adopted by several essential proteins in the exchange of substances between the extra and intracellular milieu. This finding provides a global perspective of the structural changes that occur in these relevant proteins during basic cell processes, such as protein synthesis, the regulation of metabolism and cell volume, and nerve transmission, and will contribute to understanding some of the functional disruptions caused by human diseases. ...> Full Article

Probiotic identified to treat ulcers (3/1/2011)

Researchers from Spain have identified a strain of probiotic bacteria that may be useful in treating ulcers caused by Helicobacter pylori. They report their findings in the February 2011 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. ...> Full Article

UT researchers link algae to harmful estrogen-like compound in water (3/1/2011)

University of Tennessee researchers discovered the blue-green algae may add a new harmful element into the way they understand and investigate alga blooms in aquatic systems. ...> Full Article

Ecology of microbes focus of workshop (3/1/2011)

Microbe populations have traditionally been thought of as homogeneous collections of identical individuals. Yet, new advances now allow for the observation of individual microbes within populations. The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis is now accepting applications for its Investigative Workshop: Individual-based Ecology of Microbes: Observations and Modeling to be held June 8-10, 2011. ...> Full Article