http://phys.org/biology-news/microbiology/ en-us Phys.Org provides the latest news on microbiology and cell biology. (Phys.org) —From within an ancient German gravesite to laboratories under the harshest extremes of scientific scrutiny, traces of DNA from a deadly disease illuminate the cold pages of history with modern insight. http://phys.org/news288261881.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 20 May 2013 09:44:49 EST news288261881 Monash University researchers are shedding light on the complex processes that underpin the creation and differentiation of stem cells, bringing closer the promise of 'miracle' therapies. http://phys.org/news288252860.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 20 May 2013 07:14:29 EST news288252860 MIT engineers have transformed bacterial cells into living calculators that can compute logarithms, divide, and take square roots, using three or fewer genetic parts. Inspired by how analog electronic circuits function, the researchers created synthetic computation circuits by combining existing genetic "parts," or engineered genes, in novel ways. http://phys.org/news287861661.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 15 May 2013 18:35:14 EST news287861661 (Phys.org) —Albert Erives, associate professor in the University of Iowa Department of Biology, and his graduate student, Justin Crocker, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Janelia Farm Research Campus, have conducted a study that reveals important and useful insights into how and why developmental genes often take inputs from two independent "morphogen concentration gradients." http://phys.org/news287851181.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 15 May 2013 15:40:13 EST news287851181 Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) have successfully reprogrammed human skin cells to become embryonic stem cells capable of transforming into any other cell type in the body. It is believed that stem cell therapies hold the promise of replacing cells damaged through injury or illness. Diseases or conditions that might be treated through stem cell therapy include Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, cardiac disease and spinal cord injuries. http://phys.org/news287824262.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 15 May 2013 12:00:09 EST news287824262 Scientists at Imperial College London have identified four new proteins that act as receptors for an essential signalling molecule in bacteria such as MRSA. http://phys.org/news287662921.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 13 May 2013 15:00:02 EST news287662921 (Phys.org) —A multi-institutional team from the Department of Energy's Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) used metagenomic and metaproteomic approaches to provide insight into the symbiotic relationship between leaf-cutter ants, fungi, and bacteria. In doing so, they have mapped the first draft genome of the predominant fungus and clarified its role in lignocellulose degradation in underground fungal gardens tended by the ants. Ultimately, scientists hope that this understanding will help the development of cellulosic biofuels. http://phys.org/news287650387.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 13 May 2013 08:40:03 EST news287650387 A particular tumor suppressor gene that fights cancer cells does more than clamp down on unabated cell division—the hallmark of the disease—it also can help make cells more fit by allowing them to fend off stress, says a University of Colorado Boulder study. http://phys.org/news287388814.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Fri, 10 May 2013 07:13:42 EST news287388814 Scientists have long known that control mechanisms known collectively as "epigenetics" play a critical role in human development, but they did not know precisely how alterations in this extra layer of biochemical instructions in DNA contribute to development. http://phys.org/news287334063.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 May 2013 16:01:29 EST news287334063 Scientists funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have established an inheritable bacterial infection in malaria-transmitting Anopheles mosquitoes that renders them immune to malaria parasites. http://phys.org/news287314964.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 May 2013 14:00:18 EST news287314964 Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah have discovered that while the genes provided by the father arrive at fertilization pre-programmed to the state needed by the embryo, the genes provided by the mother are in a different state and must be reprogrammed to match. The findings have important implications for both developmental biology and cancer biology. http://phys.org/news287306553.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:21 EST news287306553 Amoeba eat bacteria and other human pathogens, engulfing and destroying them – or being destroyed by them, but how these single-cell organisms distinguish and respond successfully to different bacterial classes has been largely unexplained. http://phys.org/news287307322.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:18 EST news287307322 A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has found how to boost or inhibit a gene-silencing mechanism that normally serves as a major controller of cells' activities. The discovery could lead to a powerful new class of drugs against viral infections, cancers and other diseases. http://phys.org/news287306225.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:08 EST news287306225 Two teams of investigators led by Professor Gregory Hannon of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) today publish studies revealing many previously unknown components of an innate system that defends sex cells – the carriers of inheritance across generations – from the ravages of transposable genetic elements. http://phys.org/news287306062.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:05 EST news287306062 In biology, we often think of natural selection and survival of the fittest. What about survival of the luckiest? Like pioneers in search of a better life, bacteria on a surface wander around and often organize into highly resilient communities, known as biofilms. It turns out that a lucky few bacteria become the elite cells that start the colonies, and they organize in a rich-get-richer pattern similar to the distribution of wealth in the U.S. economy, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA, Northwestern University and the University of Washington. http://phys.org/news287236562.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 May 2013 13:00:12 EST news287236562 The Ebola virus is among the deadliest viruses on the planet, killing up to 90% of those infected, and there are no approved vaccines or effective therapies. A study published by Cell Press on May 7th in the Biophysical Journal reveals how the most abundant protein making up the Ebola virus—viral protein 40 (VP40)—allows the virus to leave host cells and spread infection to other cells throughout the human body. The findings could lay the foundation for the development of new drugs and strategies for fighting Ebola infection. http://phys.org/news287139898.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Tue, 07 May 2013 12:00:08 EST news287139898 (Phys.org) —One of the biggest threats facing amphibian species is the disease chytridiomycosis, which is caused by a fungus known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). An understanding of the evolutionary history of microbial pathogens, like Bd, is critical to predicting disease outbreaks and causes of shifts in virulence. The sudden appearance of Bd worldwide suggests a recent introduction into the affected areas, likely facilitated by the international movement of amphibians. A new paper published yesterday in PNAS reveals that the evolutionary history of Bd significantly predates recent outbreaks, and is much deeper and more complex than previously thought. Using whole-genome sequencing from a global panel of Bd isolates, researchers suggest that Bd likely originated somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, but could be as old as 100,000 years. http://phys.org/news287142954.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Tue, 07 May 2013 11:10:01 EST news287142954 To infect its host, the respiratory pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa takes an ordinary protein usually involved in making other proteins and adds three small molecules to turn it into a key for gaining access to human cells. In a study to be published May 7 in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine, the University of Virginia, and Universidad de las Islas Baleares in Mallorca, Spain, uncover this previously unknown virulence factor in P. aeruginosa, one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired pneumonia. http://phys.org/news287076892.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:02 EST news287076892 Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a new technique to see how different types of cells interact in a living mouse. The process uses light-emitting proteins that glow when two types of cells come close together. http://phys.org/news287058020.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 06 May 2013 15:00:13 EST news287058020 Kansas State University scientists helped discover new details about an intricate process in cells. Their finding may advance treatments for cancer and neurological diseases. http://phys.org/news287060212.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 06 May 2013 11:56:59 EST news287060212 Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered why breast cancer patients with dense breasts are more likely than others to develop aggressive tumors that spread. The finding opens the door to drug treatments that prevent metastasis. http://phys.org/news286955230.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Sun, 05 May 2013 13:00:21 EST news286955230 The human body contains trillions of cells, all derived from a single cell, or zygote, made by the fusion of an egg and a sperm. That single cell contains all the genetic information needed to develop into a human, and passes identical copies of that information to each new cell as it divides into the many diverse types of cells that make up a complex organism like a human being. http://phys.org/news286954236.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Sun, 05 May 2013 13:00:06 EST news286954236 Inactivated, but still active– how modification of an enzyme governs critical processes in sexual reproduction. http://phys.org/news286791575.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Fri, 03 May 2013 09:19:44 EST news286791575 (Phys.org) —Like picking a career or a movie, cells have to make decisions – and cancer results from cells making wrong decisions. http://phys.org/news286786568.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Fri, 03 May 2013 07:56:19 EST news286786568 A University of Wisconsin-Madison research group has converted skin cells from people and monkeys into a cell that can form a wide variety of nervous-system cells—without passing through the do-it-all stage called the induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPSC. http://phys.org/news286710888.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 02 May 2013 12:00:08 EST news286710888 Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch, who helped transform the study of genetics by creating the first transgenic mouse in 1974, is again revolutionizing how genetically altered animal models are created and perhaps even redefining what species may serve as models. http://phys.org/news286712633.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 02 May 2013 12:00:02 EST news286712633 The study, which focuses on the process by which these cells renew and increase in number, could help research to find new treatments. http://phys.org/news286711068.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 02 May 2013 12:00:01 EST news286711068 A study of tentacle-formation in a sea anemone shows how epithelial cells form elongated structures and puts the spotlight on a new model organism. http://phys.org/news286705513.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 02 May 2013 09:25:24 EST news286705513 RNA, once considered a bit player in the grand scheme by which genes encode protein, is increasingly seen to have a major role in human genetics. In a study presented in the April 25 issue of the journal Cell, researchers from The Wistar Institute discovered how the RNA-editing protein, ADAR1, also combines with the protein called Dicer to create microRNA (miRNA) and small interfering (siRNA). These varieties of RNA, in turn, play a crucial role in gene regulation—silencing or "switching off" the production of specific proteins. http://phys.org/news286641314.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 01 May 2013 15:35:22 EST news286641314 Cells ingest proteins and engulf bacteria by a gymnastic, shape-shifting process called endocytosis. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health revealed how a key protein, dynamin, drives the action. http://phys.org/news286533598.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:40:25 EST news286533598