Scientists in recent years have made great progress in characterizing the bacterial population that normally lives on human skin and contributes to health and disease. Now researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 2, 2015
0
95
Every organism—from a seedling to a president—must protect its DNA at all costs, but precisely how a cell distinguishes between damage to its own DNA and the foreign DNA of an invading virus has remained a mystery.
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 27, 2015
3
77
A fertilized human egg may seem like the ultimate blank slate. But within days of fertilization, the growing mass of cells activates not only human genes but also viral DNA lingering in the human genome from ancient infections.
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 21, 2015
9
90
It may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that bacteria have an immune system - in their case to fight off invasive viruses called phages. And like any immune system - from single-celled to human - the first challenge of ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 13, 2015
1
47
The microbes could surrender to the harmless virus, but instead freeze in place, dormant, waiting for their potential predator to go away, according to a recent study in mBio.
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 2, 2015
1
43
Honey bees use different sets of genes, regulated by two distinct mechanisms, to fight off viruses, bacteria and gut parasites, according to researchers at Penn State and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Plants & Animals
Mar 26, 2015
0
1770
Researchers have long sought an efficient way to untangle DNA in order to study its structure - neatly unraveled and straightened out - under a microscope. Now, chemists and engineers at KU Leuven, in Belgium, have devised ...
Biotechnology
Feb 27, 2015
0
888
Bacteria may not have brains, but they do have memories, at least when it comes to viruses that attack them. Many bacteria have a molecular immune system which allows these microbes to capture and retain pieces of viral DNA ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 20, 2015
0
872
Bacteria have a sophisticated means of defending themselves, and they need it: more viruses infect bacteria than any other biological entity.
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 4, 2015
0
33
Humans have fewer remnants of viral DNA in their genes compared to other mammals, a new study has found. This decrease could be because of reduced exposure to blood-borne viruses as humans evolved to use tools rather than ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 2, 2015
1
362
