Study reveals how bacterial pathogen adapts to nutritional stress

In order to cause disease, the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus must adapt to the changing host environment. Many of these adaptations are mediated through two-component signal transduction systems (TCSs) that coordinate ...

C. difficile needs iron, but too much is hazardous

Those bacteria that require iron walk a tightrope. Iron is essential for their growth, but too much iron can damage DNA and enzymes through oxidation. Therefore, bacteria have machinery to maintain their intracellular iron ...

New light on bacterial microcompartments

Bacteria contain "microcompartments," which are poorly understood organelles that play critical roles in metabolism. Understanding how they work may ultimately enable engineering them for useful applications. In salmonella, ...

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 ...

Genes found in H. pylori that influence biofilm formation

Most bacteria cannot survive in the acidic environment of the human stomach, but Helicobacter pylori, a major cause of ulcers, thrives under such circumstances. Now research has shown that one of that bacterium's regulatory ...

New role of small RNAs in Salmonella infections uncovered

Salmonella are food-borne pathogens that infect millions of people each year. To do so, these bacteria depend on a complex network of genes and gene products that allow them to sense environmental conditions. In a new paper, ...

Plasmids and the spread of antibiotic resistance genes

Though the harnessing of antibiotics is one of the most significant human innovations, their efficacy is continuously eroded by the craftiness of their microbial targets. Once a single bacterium mutates to become resistant ...

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