https://phys.org/biology-news/microbiology/ en-us The latest science news on microbiology and cell biology. In the past several years, Rockefeller University's Kivanç Birsoy and his team in the Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation and Genetics have revealed remarkable details about the antioxidant glutathione, which plays many essential roles in the body, from clearing free radicals to repairing cellular damage. Among other things, they've discovered the transporter that shuttles glutathione to where it's needed, how glutathione keeps iron levels in check, and the metabolite's complicated relationship with mitochondria, the energy center of the cell, where it both keeps the lights on yet can drive the metastasis of breast cancer. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-antioxidant-glutathione-play-key-role.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 17 Apr 2026 16:00:01 EDT news695651461 A newly designed AI-powered tool is effective in developing treatments to attack antibiotic-resistant bacteria by breaking down their outer defenses, according to new research from Houston Methodist. The study, published in Nature Communications and led by Eleftherios Mylonakis, M.D., Ph.D., chair, Houston Methodist Charles W. Duncan Jr. Department of Medicine, details how researchers used the tool to identify antimicrobial peptides—small proteins that are part of the body's natural immune system—that effectively targeted bacteria like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in lab tests. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-powered-tool-treatments-antibiotic.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:40:01 EDT news695645102 Cells are enveloped by a lipid membrane that gives them structure and provides a barrier between the cell and its environment. However, evidence has recently emerged suggesting that these membranes do more than simply provide protection—they also influence the behavior of the protein receptors embedded in them. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-cancer-hidden-cell-membrane-growth.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:10:01 EDT news695574421 Photosynthetic bacteria helped shape planet Earth. Among them are cyanobacteria that produced the oxygen in the atmosphere and made complex life possible, captivating scientists for decades. Now, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) report a surprising new discovery—a system thought to separate DNA has developed to sculpt the shape of the cell in cyanobacteria instead. The results, published in Science, shed light on how protein systems evolve and how multicellularity emerged in this type of ecologically essential bacteria. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-cyanobacteria-scientists-evolutionary-shift.html Evolution Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:07 EDT news695472121 Biological tissues have a remarkable ability to organize and change shape, driven by forces generated by their own cells. One of the major challenges in bioengineering is harnessing this natural behavior to design synthetic living materials capable of adopting predetermined shapes. However, precisely controlling how a tissue behaves and directing its internal forces to adopt the desired shape remains a significant scientific challenge. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-scientists-shifting-tissue-cells-flat.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:00:05 EDT news695548261 Research has shed important new light on the enemies-turned-allies that allow bacteria to exchange genes, including those linked to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The insights, which expand our understanding of the major global health threat of AMR, came as John Innes Center researchers investigated the curious phenomena of gene transfer agents (GTAs). https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ancient-viruses-gene-delivery-couriers.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 16 Apr 2026 05:00:17 EDT news695483581 Researchers at University College Dublin have discovered a previously unknown "courier system" that cells use to deliver coherent biological messages between each other, opening new possibilities for medicine and biotechnology. These courier systems also possess "keys" to natural (endogenous) gateways, allowing them to reach biological locations that are currently inaccessible in conventional delivery medicine. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-cells-secret-courier-hard-rna.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 16 Apr 2026 05:00:11 EDT news695484001 Researchers have identified more than 600,000 microbial proteins capable of breaking down natural and synthetic plastics, revealing a far broader biodegradation potential across microbes than previously known. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-earth-microbes-universal-plastic-arsenal.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:00:07 EDT news695470383 Researchers at the University of Zurich have analyzed the genome of bacteria living in Lake Zurich to conclude that microbes employ two different strategies to colonize new habitats. Some acquire new traits, as expected—but others reduce the size of their genome and lose some functions in order to successfully move to a new home. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-lake-bacteria-survive-slashing-genome.html Evolution Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:20:09 EDT news695389141 Research by microbiologists Reinier Egas and Cornelia Welte of Radboud University shows that many methane-consuming microorganisms actually prefer carbon monoxide over methane. When carbon monoxide is present, they consume far less methane. This suggests that in carbon monoxide–rich environments, more methane may be released from the soil into the atmosphere. The paper is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-picky-methane-consuming-microorganisms-carbon.html Ecology Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:00:05 EDT news695388781 Parasites are a major global health problem, underlying many human diseases worldwide. For example, Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for malaria, plays a well-established role; however, its complex life cycle is not yet fully understood. This includes how parasites exit the infected host cells, known as "egress." https://phys.org/news/2026-04-parasites-host-cells-mic11-exposing.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:00:04 EDT news695385781 Life moves in mysterious ways—and perhaps especially so for organisms that undergo dramatic shifts in levels of self-organization, such as Myxococcus xanthus. A custom-built artificial intelligence system developed by Rice University researchers helped uncover how bacterial communities organize themselves, showing that the earliest moments of a biological transition carry far more information than previously considered. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-hidden-behavior-patterns-bacteria.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:20:09 EDT news695376302 Cells can be thought of as cities, with factories, a transport system, and lots of building activity. An international team led by scientists at the University of Groningen studied cells growing under different conditions and measured the speed of molecule transport. They found that some conditions led to changes in the mobility inside the cells, caused by the clustering of proteins that produce the building materials for growth. It could be that clustering enables the proteins to produce those building blocks more efficiently. The research is published in the journal Molecular Cell. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-protein-clusters-reshape-cell-movement.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 13 Apr 2026 19:10:01 EDT news695318641 Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have found that temporarily disabling a protein complex that organizes DNA into loops inside the cell's nucleus drastically disrupted the three-dimensional structure of the genome, but surprisingly, most genes continued to function as usual. However, they also discovered a small group of affected genes that play a critical role in guiding cells to become specific types, for example, heart, brain, or liver cells. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-disrupting-genome-architecture-impairs-developmental.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:10:01 EDT news695316301 At the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), Jérémie Palacci's research group is venturing into metallurgy—albeit with a twist. Instead of traditional tools, the scientists use E. coli bacteria, often associated with infection linked to contaminated food. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-microbial-hockey-scientists-bacteria-rotate.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 11 Apr 2026 10:00:03 EDT news694774202 What if the Trojan horse had been pulled to pieces, revealing the ruse and fending off the invasion, just as it entered the gates of Troy? That's an apt description of a newly characterized bacterial defense system that chops up foreign DNA. Bacteria and the viruses that infect them, bacteriophages—phages for short—are ceaselessly at odds, with bacteria developing methods to protect themselves against phages that are constantly striving to overcome those safeguards. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-snipe-bacterial-defense-shreds-phage.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:00:10 EDT news695045401 Inspired by the collective dynamics of bacteria like E. coli and Bacillus subtilis, researchers at the University of Twente asked a simple but fundamental question: what happens when artificial swimmers are made rod-shaped rather than spherical, and how does shape control how they move as a group? "These dumb yet active rods follow only the laws of physics, which help to uncover the mechanics of collective bacterial behavior," says Hanumantha Rao Vutukuri. Their findings appear in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-rod-synthetic-swimmers-reveal-sweet.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:00:03 EDT news695039161 Researchers at DTU have developed a new method that can reduce the time needed to find new bacteria for fermentation. They have now identified a bacterium that can be used both for acidification and to increase the vitamin B2 content of soya drinks. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-bacteria-bumblebees-vitamin-soya.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:20:04 EDT news695038142 All processes such as wound healing, hair growth, and the replacement of old cells with new ones depend on cell division. During this process, chromosomes inside the cell must be evenly divided between two daughter cells. Even slight errors can lead to cellular abnormalities. A research team at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) has recently uncovered new clues suggesting that a protein called tau plays an important role in this highly regulated process. The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-alzheimer-linked-protein-tau-plays.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:00:02 EDT news695035861 Researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center have solved a long-standing mystery of how a model green microalga reorganizes its central metabolism to supercharge growth when given access to both light and a carbon source—a finding with broad implications for developing algae as a sustainable source of renewable fuels, bioproducts, and biomass. Their study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-hidden-metabolism-algae-advance-renewable.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:00:03 EDT news694970702 DNA inside the nucleus is not packed as a rigid regular fiber—linker histone H1 dynamically binds and loosely "glues" nucleosomes together, creating a dynamic, fluid organization that can still support essential genome functions. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-liquid-histone-h1-nucleosomes-reshaping.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:00:06 EDT news694967221 In a study published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Nagoya University researchers demonstrated that native soil bacteria, when treated with decoy molecules, can degrade non-native compounds, including persistent pollutants such as dioxins, without genetic modification. "In other words, we can effectively give these bacteria capabilities they do not naturally have, while keeping them in their original state," said Professor Osami Shoji, the study's lead author. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-decoy-molecules-soil-bacteria-persistent.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:40:03 EDT news694957134 Like most bacteria, Vibrio cholerae lives under constant attack from viruses. To survive, bacteria equip themselves with antiviral immune systems. Previous work has shown that V. cholerae carries a large genetic element called a sedentary chromosomal integron (SCI). This structure contains hundreds of small mobile DNA units known as "gene cassettes" arranged in a long array, like a chain of pearls. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-phages-cholerae-neighbors-swap-defenses.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:10 EDT news694879321 Hedgehogs, elephants, pangolins, bears or fennec foxes: many wild species are sold as pets, hunting trophies, for traditional medicine, biomedical research, or for their meat or fur. These practices, whether legal or illegal, concern one-quarter of all mammal species. Now a study conducted at the Department of Ecology and Evolution of the University of Lausanne (Unil) quantifies the impact of wildlife trade on the exchange of germs and parasites between animals and humans. The work, titled "Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years," appears in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-wildlife-pathogen-transmission-years-spillover.html Ecology Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:08 EDT news694945081 In science, ethical guidelines ensure that research takes place in a way that respects public trust and is conducted responsibly. Traditional ethics approval procedures work well for projects following established practices, but they offer little flexibility when unexpected challenges, novel approaches, unanticipated research directions, or unforeseen results arise. For research exploring uncharted ethical ground, such as studies with human stem-cell-based embryo models (hSCBEMs), conventional ethical approval approaches are therefore no longer suitable. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-embryo-ethics.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:01 EDT news694952761 Stromatolites—and their close relatives, microbial mats—could be mistaken for what seems like a bunch of old dark rocks. But instead, they are dense, layered communities of microbes. Long before complex life such as animals or plants existed, stromatolites breathed the first molecules of oxygen into Earth's atmosphere. Now, in a study published in Current Biology, researchers say they may also hold insights into how complex life began. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-asgard-earth-tiny-tubes-reveal.html Evolution Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:00:06 EDT news694943992 A study published in Cell Research advances a central idea in stem cell biology by identifying a checkpoint that controls the identity of many different types of stem cells across developmental stages. For nearly two decades, scientists have understood that stem cell self-renewal depends on blocking differentiation signals—a concept described in earlier work, including Qi-Long Ying and Austin Smith's 2008 Nature paper titled "The ground state of embryonic stem cell self-renewal." https://phys.org/news/2026-04-stemness-checkpoint-stem-cell-identity.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:00:04 EDT news694884782 A specific protein controls mRNA transport in fungi and distinguishes important from unimportant binding sites in the transported mRNAs. Researchers from Würzburg and Düsseldorf have discovered this mechanism. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-sites-fungal-vesicle-hitchhiking-mrna.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 18:20:05 EDT news694878601 Stockholm University and SciLifeLab researchers have uncovered how glucose transporters move nutrients into cells, bridging a long-standing gap between structure and function in membrane biology. "Our study shows that these transport proteins rely on a previously uncharacterized intermediate state that functions much like the 'transition state' in enzyme catalysis. This is a discovery that reshapes our understanding of one of biology's most fundamental processes," says David Drew, professor of biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-glucose-hinge-fleeting-transition-state.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:40:04 EDT news694866361 Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered thousands of new proteins that protect bacteria from virus attacks using an AI system called DefensePredictor. What would usually take months of lab work can now be narrowed down to promising candidates in minutes. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-uncovers-hidden-immune-defenses.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:40:02 EDT news694862556