Related topics: bacteria

New methods to visualize bacterial cell-to-cell communication

Most bacteria are able to communicate with each other by secreting signaling molecules. Once the concentration of signals has reached a critical density ("the Quorum), the bacteria are able to coordinate their behavior. Only ...

Chlamydia protein has an odd structure, scientists find

A protein secreted by the chlamydia bug has a very unusual structure, according to scientists in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. The discovery of the protein's shape could ...

Pathogen turns protein into a virulence factor in one easy step

To infect its host, the respiratory pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa takes an ordinary protein usually involved in making other proteins and adds three small molecules to turn it into a key for gaining access to human cells. ...

Study: Odd biochemistry yields lethal bacterial protein

While working out the structure of a cell-killing protein produced by some strains of the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis, researchers stumbled on a bit of unusual biochemistry. They found that a single enzyme helps form ...

Bacterial virulence factor of mushroom soft rot identified

(Phys.org)—Soft rot diseases cause a great deal of damage in agriculture, and turn fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms to mush. By using imaging mass spectrometry together with genetic and bioinformatic techniques (genome ...

The dual significance of bacterial protein secretion

Secretion of bacterial proteins is an essential biological process with biotechnological and biomedical impact on human health. European scientists studied a universal and widely conserved bacterial secretory pathway towards ...

Proteins enable essential enzyme to maintain its grip on DNA

Scientists have identified a family of proteins that close a critical gap in an enzyme that is essential to all life, allowing the enzyme to maintain its grip on DNA and start the activation of genes.

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