How bacteria makes copper into an antibiotic

Copper in small quantities is an essential nutrient but can also be toxic. Human immune cells use copper to fight invading pathogens. Some microorganisms, in turn, have evolved ways to take up copper and incorporate it into ...

Team identifies the off switch for biofilm formation

Bacteria are best known as free-living single cells, but in reality their lives are much more complex. To survive in harsh environments, many species of bacteria will band together and form a biofilm—a collection of cells ...

Chemists turn bacterial molecules into potential drug molecules

Yan-Yeung Luk, associate professor of chemistry, and his research team have published their findings in ChemBioChem, explaining how they have created molecules that mimic and dominate toxic ones secreted by bacteria. The ...

Team discovers rules for breaking into Pseudomonas

Researchers report in the journal Nature that they have found a way to get antibacterial drugs through the nearly impenetrable outer membrane of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that—once it infects a person—is notoriously ...

Researchers find an alternative mode of bacterial quorum sensing

Whether growing in a puddle of dirty water or inside the human body, large groups of bacteria must coordinate their behavior to perform essential tasks that they would not be able to carry out individually. Bacteria achieve ...

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