Bacteria are a major domain of prokaryotic microorganisms characterized by the absence of a membrane-bound nucleus, typically possessing a single circular chromosome, 70S ribosomes, and peptidoglycan-containing cell walls. They exhibit diverse morphologies (e.g., cocci, bacilli, spirilla) and metabolic strategies, including aerobic, anaerobic, phototrophic, chemolithotrophic, and heterotrophic lifestyles. Bacteria reproduce primarily by binary fission and undergo extensive horizontal gene transfer via transformation, transduction, and conjugation, driving rapid adaptation. They occupy virtually all ecological niches, form complex communities such as biofilms, and play central roles in biogeochemical cycles, host-associated microbiomes, biotechnology, and pathogenesis research.
Last year, a ten-month-old baby in the US was the first person in the world to have their rare genetic disease effectively cured through the use of CRISPR gene editing technology. But the rollout of CRISPR across a wide range ...
Biotechnology
Jan 26, 2026
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52
The problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has many health experts worried. As disease-causing bacteria adapt to some of our ways to reduce them, especially with antibiotics, it presents an arms race which we appear to ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 26, 2026
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Researchers have discovered how bacteria break through spaces barely larger than themselves, by wrapping their flagella around their bodies and moving forward. Using a microfluidic device that mimics insect gut channels, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 25, 2026
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291
Whether in the human body or on surfaces, bacteria protect themselves from outside attackers using biofilms. Physicist Eleonora Secchi is researching how these slime-like protective films are formed, with the aim of making ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 22, 2026
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216
Researchers at the Waltham Petcare Science Institute in the UK recently revealed a complete taxonomic and functional catalog of the canine gut microbiome after analyzing samples from 107 healthy dogs across the U.S. and Europe. ...
Light is a universal stimulus that influences all living things. Cycles of light and dark help set the biological clocks for organisms ranging from single-celled bacteria to human beings. Some bacteria use photosynthesis ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 20, 2026
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Bacteriophages have been used therapeutically to treat infectious bacterial diseases for over a century. As antibiotic-resistant infections increasingly threaten public health, interest in bacteriophages as therapeutics has ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 19, 2026
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498
A bacterial cell settles onto a nondescript surface. It is plump, healthy and functioning as it should. Nothing appears amiss.
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 19, 2026
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16
A multidisciplinary team has uncovered a key mechanism that allows the human bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae—responsible for atypical pneumonia and other respiratory infections—to obtain cholesterol and other essential lipids ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 18, 2026
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34
Protein aggregates, damaged organelles, and invading bacteria are identified and removed in healthy cells. An international research team led by Professor Konstanze F. Winklhofer from the Institute of Biochemistry and Pathobiochemistry ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 15, 2026
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