Revealing bacterial chainmail structure

An international team of scientists has uncovered the structure of the protective protein coat which surrounds many bacteria like a miniature suit of armour. Their research, which is published today in Nature, has far ranging ...

Researchers find new ways to understand bacteria's 'thinking'

It's not thinking in the way humans, dogs or even birds think, but new findings from researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, show that bacteria are more capable of complex decision-making than previously known.

Genes that make bacteria make up their minds

Bacteria are single cell organisms with no nervous system or brain. So how do individual bacterial cells living as part of a complex community called a biofilm "decide" between different physiological processes (such as movement ...

Antibiotic-eating bug unearthed in soil

It's well known how bacteria exposed to antibiotics for long periods will find ways to resist the drugs—by quickly pumping them out of their cells, for instance, or modifying the compounds so they're no longer toxic.

An sRNA controls a bacterium's social life

For the first time, biologists have directly shown how spontaneous mutation of a small RNA (sRNA) regulatory molecule can provide an evolutionary advantage. Reporting in this week's Science, Indiana University Bloomington ...

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