Microbiology Now - May 2011 Archives

The traditional remedy bitter cumin is a great source antioxidant plant phenols (5/31/2011)

Bitter cumin is used extensively in traditional medicine to treat a range of diseases from vitiligo to hyperglycemia. It is considered to be antiparasitic and antimicrobial and science has backed up claims of its use to reduce fever or as a painkiller. New research published in BioMedCentral's open-access journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine shows that this humble spice also contains high levels of antioxidants. ...> Full Article

Teaching algae to make fuel (5/31/2011)

Many kinds of algae and cyanobacteria, common water-dwelling microorganisms, are capable of using energy from sunlight to split water molecules and release hydrogen, which holds promise as a clean and carbon-free fuel for the future. One reason this approach hasn't yet been harnessed for fuel production is that under ordinary circumstances, hydrogen production takes a back seat to the production of compounds that the organisms use to support their own growth. ...> Full Article

Discovery opens the door to electricity from microbes (5/31/2011)

Using bacteria to generate energy is a significant step closer following a breakthrough discovery by scientists at the University of East Anglia. Published today by the leading scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research demonstrates for the first time the exact molecular structure of the proteins which enable bacterial cells to transfer electrical charge. ...> Full Article

Combo method reveals cells' signal systems (5/31/2011)

Our understanding of what differentiates cancer cells from normal cells is limited by a lack of methods for studying the complex signal systems of individual cells. By combing two different methods, a team of Uppsala researchers have now provided the research world with a tool for studying signal paths on several levels at the same time. Their article is being published today in PLoS One. ...> Full Article

Wolbachia bacteria reduce parasite levels and kill the mosquito that spreads malaria (5/30/2011)

Researchers found that artificial infection with different Wolbachia bacteria strains can significantly reduce levels of the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, in the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. The investigators also determined that one of the Wolbachia strains rapidly killed the mosquito after it fed on blood. According to the researchers, Wolbachia could potentially be used as part of a strategy to control malaria if stable infections can be established in Anopheles. ...> Full Article

Scientists make strides in vision research (5/29/2011)

New research at UC Santa Barbara is contributing to the basic biological understanding of how retinas develop. The study is part of the campus's expanding vision research. ...> Full Article

The dance of the cells: A minuet or a mosh? (5/28/2011)

Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia have, for the first time, devised a way to measure the forces that guide how cells migrate during collective cellular migration. Their surprising conclusion is that the cells fight it out, each pushing and pulling on its neighbors in a chaotic dance, yet together moving cooperatively toward their intended direction. ...> Full Article

Scientists discover new hitch to link nerve cell motors to their cargo (5/27/2011)

A Syracuse University study, published in the April 22 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, describes the discovery of a protein that is involved in the motor-cargo mechanism that carries neurotransmitter chemicals to the nerve cell's synapse. ...> Full Article

Antibody production gets confused during long-term spaceflight (5/27/2011)

The trip to Mars just got more difficult since researchers discovered that antibodies that fight off disease might become compromised during long-term space flights. A new report published online in the FASEB Journal, shows that antibodies produced in space are less effective than those produced on Earth. This reduced effectiveness of antibodies makes astronauts more susceptible to illness, increasing the danger posed by bacteria and viruses likely to coexist with wayfaring astronauts. ...> Full Article

Bacteria use caffeine as food source (5/27/2011)

A new bacterium that uses caffeine for food has been discovered by a doctoral student at the University of Iowa. The bacterium uses newly discovered digestive enzymes to break down the caffeine, which allows it to live and grow. ...> Full Article

'Critical baby step' taken for spying life on a molecular scale (5/26/2011)

The ability to image single biological molecules in a living cell is something that has long eluded researchers; however, a novel technique, using the structure of diamond, may well be able to do this and potentially provide a tool for diagnosing, and eventually developing a treatment for, hard-to-cure diseases such as cancer. ...> Full Article

New technique sheds light on the mysterious process of cell division (5/25/2011)

A new technique that constructs models of primitive cells has demonstrated that the structure of a cell's membrane and cytoplasm may be as important to cell division as a cell's enzymes, DNA, or RNA. The study, which will be published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, may provide important clues to how life originated from non-life and how modern cells came to exhibit complex behaviors. ...> Full Article

Understanding a bacterial immune system 1 step at a time (5/24/2011)

Researchers at the University of Alberta have taken an important step in understanding an immune system of bacteria, a finding that could have implications for medical care and both the pharmaceutical and dairy industries. ...> Full Article

Researcher unlocks secrets of plague with stunning new imaging techniques (5/23/2011)

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a super-resolution microscopy technique that is answering long-held questions about exactly how and why a cell's defenses fail against some invaders, such as plague, while successfully fending off others like E.coli. The approach is revealing never-before-seen detail of the cell membrane, which could open doors to new diagnostic, prevention and treatment techniques. ...> Full Article

Deer tick bacteria DNA in joint fluid not reliable marker of active lyme arthritis (5/22/2011)

New research shows that polymerase chain reaction testing for Borrelia burgdorferi DNA -- the spirochetal bacteria transmitted by deer ticks -- in joint fluid may confirm the diagnosis of Lyme arthritis, but is not a reliable indicator for active joint infection in patients whose arthritis persists after antibiotic therapy. Findings of this study are published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology. ...> Full Article

Researchers identify new cell that attacks dengue virus (5/21/2011)

Mast cells, which help the body respond to bacteria and pathogens, also apparently sound the alarm around viruses delivered by mosquitoes, according to researchers at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore. ...> Full Article

Clues to calming a cytokine storm (5/20/2011)

By analyzing complex interactions of the immune system in an animal study, pediatric researchers have found potential tools for controlling a life-threatening condition called a cytokine storm that may strike children who have juvenile arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. The study is a first step toward developing new treatments for a condition called macrophage activation syndrome. ...> Full Article

New book on intermediary metabolism reveals intriguing complexity (5/19/2011)

"Yeast Intermediary Metabolism," published by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, provides a straightforward yet comprehensive treatment of ordinary metabolism suitable for students throughout their training in biology. The book is essential reading for yeast specialists but all investigators of eukaryote biology will find it an indispensable source of knowledge, distilled from Dan Fraenkel's many years of teaching and research. ...> Full Article

Same fungus, different strains (5/18/2011)

Aspergillus niger is an integral player in the carbon cycle, it possesses an arsenal of enzymes that can be deployed in breaking down plant cell walls to free up sugars that can then be fermented and distilled into biofuel, a process being optimized by US Department of Energy researchers. This well-understood fungal fermentation process that could inform the development of a biorefinery where organic compounds replace the chemical building blocks normally derived from petroleum. ...> Full Article

Scientists discover way to amp up power of killer T cells (5/14/2011)

Researchers with UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a way to amp up the power of killer T-cells, called CD8 cells, making them more functional for longer periods of time and boosting their ability to multiply and expand within the body to fight melanoma, a new study has found. ...> Full Article

Scientists unmask mysterious cells as key 'border patrol agents' in the intestine (5/13/2011)

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have uncovered new clues about how the intestine maintains friendly relations with the 100 trillion symbiotic bacteria that normally live in the digestive tract. ...> Full Article

The soul of a cell: Stanford researchers use advanced instrument to read cells' minds (5/12/2011)

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a machine already in use for the measurement of impurities in semiconductors and used it to analyze immune cells in far more detail than has been possible before. The new technology lets scientists take simultaneous measurements of dozens of features located on and in cells, whereas the existing technology typically begins to encounter technical limitations at about a half-dozen. ...> Full Article

Spikemoss genome offers new paths for biofuels research -- bridges plant development gap (5/11/2011)

The Selaginella genome helps fill in a large gap in plant evolution from unicellular green alga to flowering plants with vascular systems. Plants rely on lignin to keep vascular tissues upright, but biofuels researchers see lignin's rigid structure as a hindrance to using plants as potential bioenergy feedstocks. The Selaginella genome is already being used to study the pathways by which three different types of lignin are synthesized in plants. ...> Full Article

Direct proof of how T cells stay in 'standby' mode (5/10/2011)

Wistar researchers offer definitive proof that T cells need to actively maintain "quiescience," a sort of standby mode the cells enter while waiting activation by other parts of the immune system. The researchers also found that they can activate quiescent cells by targeting a single protein, opening the possibility that quiescent T cells within tumors can be used to kill cancer cells. ...> Full Article

New biosensor modelled on the immune system can detect, track and guide the clean-up of oil spills (5/9/2011)

A new biosensor which uses antibody-based technology has been shown to detect marine pollutants such as oil cheaper and faster than current technology. Tests of the new biosensor, published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, reveal how it could be used for the early detection and tracking of oil spills. ...> Full Article

Researchers develop technique for measuring stressed molecules in cells (5/8/2011)

Biophysicists at the University of Pennsylvania have helped develop a new technique for studying how proteins respond to physical stress and have applied it to better understand the stability-granting structures in normal and mutated red blood cells. ...> Full Article

Unlocking the metabolic secrets of the microbiome (5/7/2011)

The number of bacterial cells living in and on our bodies outnumbers our own cells ten to one. But the identity of all those bugs and just what exactly our relationship to all of them really is remains rather fuzzy. Now, researchers reporting in the May issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, have new evidence showing the metabolic impact of all those microbes in mice, and on their colons in particular. ...> Full Article

Mystery solved: How sickle hemoglobin protects against malaria (5/6/2011)

At latest issue of the journal Cell, a study challenges the currently held views and unravel the molecular mechanism whereby sickle cell hemoglobin confers a survival advantage against malaria, the disease caused by Plasmodium infection. These findings by the research team lead by Miguel P. Soares, at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia, Portugal, opens the way to new therapeutic interventions against malaria. ...> Full Article

Video captures cellular 'workhorses' in action (5/5/2011)

Scientists at Yale University and in Grenoble France have succeeded in creating a movie showing the breakup of actin filaments, the thread-like structures inside cells that are crucial to their movement, maintenance and division. ...> Full Article

Novel microorganism 'Nitrososphaera viennensis' isolated (5/4/2011)

Microorganisms play an important role in global nutrient cycles. A research team led by Christa Schleper, head of the Department of Genetics in Ecology at the University of Vienna, has isolated the first ammonium oxidizing Archaeon from a soil in Vienna and thus proved its activity. The researchers present their results on "Nitrososphaera viennensis" in the newest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...> Full Article

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have evolved a unique chemical mechanism, new discovery reveals (5/4/2011)

For the first time, scientists have been able to paint a detailed chemical picture of how a particular strain of bacteria has evolved to become resistant to antibiotics. The research is a key step toward designing compounds to prevent infections by the recently evolved, drug-resistant "superbugs" that are infecting hospitalized patients and others. ...> Full Article

How do white blood cells detect invaders to destroy? (5/3/2011)

Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have discovered how a molecular receptor on the surface of white blood cells identifies when invading fungi have established direct contact with the cell surface and pose an infectious threat. ...> Full Article

'Going off the grid' helps some bacteria hide from antibiotics (5/3/2011)

Call them the Jason Bournes of the bacteria world.Going "off the grid," like rogue secret agents, some bacteria avoid antibiotic treatments by essentially shutting down and hiding until it's safe to come out again, says Thomas Wood, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. ...> Full Article

Researchers combine active proteins with material derived from fruit fly (5/2/2011)

The new work from the Rice lab of biochemist Kathleen Matthews, in collaboration with former Rice faculty fellow and current Texas A&M assistant professor Sarah Bondos, simplifies the process of making materials with fully functional proteins. ...> Full Article

New biosensor microchip could speed up drug development, researchers say (5/1/2011)

A new biosensor microchip that could hold more than 100,000 magnetically sensitive nanosensors could speed up drug development markedly, Stanford researchers say. The nanosensors analyze how proteins bond -- a critical step in drug development. The ultrasensitive sensors can simultaneously monitor thousands of times more proteins than existing technology, deliver results faster and assess the strength of the bonds. ...> Full Article

Researchers find missing link in plant defense against fungal disease (5/1/2011)

Scientists at the University of Missouri report on a discovery in a key component in the signaling pathway that regulates the production of phytoalexins to kill the disease-causing fungus Botrytis cinerea. ...> Full Article