How bacteria 'self-vaccinate' against viral invaders

Like most organisms, bacteria are preyed upon by viruses—and their go-to approach to destroying the invaders is to simply chop them up. As soon as it sees a virus, a bacterium may employ a host of immune strategies to slice ...

How host-cell enzymes combat the coronavirus

Host-cell enzymes called PARP12 and PARP14 are important for inhibiting mutant forms of a coronavirus, according to a study published May 16 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Stanley Perlman of the University of ...

New control of cell division discovered

When a cell divides, its constituents are usually evenly distributed among the daughter cells. University of Zurich researchers have now identified an enzyme that guarantees that cell constituents that are concentrated in ...

How bacterial cell recognizes its own DNA

It may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that bacteria have an immune system - in their case to fight off invasive viruses called phages. And like any immune system - from single-celled to human - the first challenge of ...

Virus-cutting enzyme helps bacteria remember a threat

Bacteria may not have brains, but they do have memories, at least when it comes to viruses that attack them. Many bacteria have a molecular immune system which allows these microbes to capture and retain pieces of viral DNA ...

Scientists identify promising antiviral compounds

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified two promising candidates for the development of drugs against human adenovirus, a cause of ailments ranging from colds to gastrointestinal ...

Scientists find measles' natural nemesis

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that a known enzyme in cells protects against measles virus, likely by altering the virus's genetic material, RNA. Cells lacking the enzyme become highly vulnerable ...

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