The bacterial cell wall must be constantly remodeled in order to grow and divide. This involves the close coordination of lytic enzymes and peptidoglycan synthesis. In their study published in Nature Communications, researchers ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 20, 2023
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3
Researchers still do not understand exactly how antibiotics kill bacteria. However, this understanding is necessary to develop new antibiotics. And that is precisely what is urgently needed, because bacteria are currently ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 23, 2023
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18
A bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus is widespread and generally harmless, but can cause infections known as "opportunistic infections." These occur when the bacteria take advantage of certain situations, such as a weakened ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 10, 2022
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41
For decades, scientists have wondered how large molecules such as proteins pass through cell walls, also known as plasma membranes, without leaving a trace. That ability is part of what makes certain drugs—including some ...
Biochemistry
Oct 20, 2021
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70
Bacteria are single-celled organisms that are essential to human health, both in our environment and inside our own bodies. However, certain bacterial species can make us sick.
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 9, 2020
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100
Like humans, bacteria live together in communities, sometimes lending a hand—or in the case of bacteria, a metabolite or two—to help their neighbors thrive. Understanding how bacteria interact is critical to solving growing ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 2, 2020
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97
Steadily and relentlessly, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea has slipped past medicine's defenses, acquiring resistance to once-reliable drugs, including penicillin, tetracycline, and ciprofloxacin. These former stalwarts ...
Biochemistry
Aug 23, 2019
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124
Scientists long puzzled over why bacteria contain so many "redundant" enzymes. Why make several molecules that do the same job, interchangeably, when it would be much more efficient to make just one?
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 9, 2019
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85
Most people think of "strep throat" as a relatively benign infection cured by a round of antibiotics and a few days of rest. But the bacterium that causes strep throat—Group A Streptococcus—is also responsible for a number ...
Biochemistry
Apr 1, 2019
0
152
A hand-made super-microscope—capable of seeing the actual building blocks of a bacterial cell wall—has helped Monash researchers decipher how bacteria are able to literally build a wall against the immune system, leading ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 29, 2018
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