In a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the microbiologist Andreas Farnleitner is looking at new methods for analysing faecal pollution in water. Using DNA analytics, the scientist aims to develop comprehensive ...
Environment
May 30, 2017
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18
Organisms in nature adapt and evolve in complex environments. For example, when subjected to changes in nutrients, antibiotics, and predation, microbes in the wild face the challenge of adapting multiple traits at the same ...
Evolution
May 23, 2017
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369
Bacterial populations pose an intriguing puzzle: in so-called isogenic populations, all bacteria have the same genes, but they still behave differently, for example grow at different speeds. Researchers at the Institute of ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 20, 2017
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6
Researchers at the University of Maryland have identified how the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses tension-activated membrane channels to stop itself from swelling up and bursting when it is suddenly exposed ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 19, 2017
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3
Antibiotics harm bacteria and stress them. Trimethoprim (TMP), an antibiotic, inhibits the growth of the bacterium Escherichia coli and induces a stress response. This response also protects the bacterium from subsequent ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 23, 2017
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5
Researchers at Princeton and Harvard Universities have developed a way to produce the tools for figuring out gene function faster and cheaper than current methods, according to new research in the journal Nature Communications.
Biotechnology
Nov 10, 2016
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17
It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future, and even more so when they involve the reactions of living cells—huge numbers of genes, proteins and enzymes, embedded in complex pathways and feedback loops. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 28, 2016
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382
"Jumping genes" are ubiquitous. Every domain of life hosts these sequences of DNA that can "jump" from one position to another along a chromosome; in fact, nearly half the human genome is made up of jumping genes. Depending ...
Biotechnology
Jun 13, 2016
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22
The dream of replacing petrochemicals with renewable resources in the manufacture of synthetic fibers and plastics has moved a step closer. A*STAR researchers have genetically modified the bacterium Escherichia coli to produce ...
Biotechnology
May 18, 2016
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9
Bacteria and other prokaryotes have been around for billions of years because they managed to develop successful evolutionary strategies for survival. For instance, they possess defense mechanisms that allow them to discriminate ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 22, 2016
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17
