Protein synthesis, ATP unnecessary for bacterial spore germination

Spores of Bacillus bacteria can survive for years in a dormant state, and then germinate in minutes. But it has long been unclear whether germination required protein synthesis, or cellular energy packets, which are known ...

Bacteria use DNA replication to time key decision

In spore-forming bacteria, chromosomal locations of genes can couple the DNA replication cycle to critical, once-in-a-lifetime decisions about whether to reproduce or form spores. The new finding by Rice University bioengineers ...

Bio researchers receive patent to fight superbugs

Superbugs, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, have been on the rise since antibiotics were first introduced 80 years ago. That's because these germ-fighting agents have lost their punch from being overprescribed and misused, ...

Pocket-sized anthrax detector aids global agriculture

A credit-card-sized anthrax detection cartridge developed at Sandia National Laboratories and recently licensed to a small business makes testing safer, easier, faster and cheaper.

New, unusually large virus kills anthrax agent

From a zebra carcass on the plains of Namibia in Southern Africa, an international team of researchers has discovered a new, unusually large virus (or bacteriophage) that infects the bacterium that causes anthrax. The novel ...

Anthrax can grow and reproduce in soil, researchers find

(Phys.org)—Anthrax has the unexpected ability to grow and reproduce while lurking in soil – increasing the deadly bacteria's chances to infect cattle and other mammals, researchers at the University of Virginia School ...

Anthrax targets

A trawl of the genome of the deadly bacterium Bacillus anthracis has revealed a clutch of targets for new drugs to combat an epidemic of anthrax or a biological weapons attack. The targets are all proteins that are found ...

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