Bacteria probably formed symbioses with protists early in evolution

Day in, day out, in the smallest of spaces with your greatest enemy. Sounds unbearable? In the world of microbes, this has been everyday life for billions of years. This supposedly direful proximity can lead to unusual partnerships, ...

Bacterial virulence is stimulated by burns

Sepsis constitutes the main cause of disease and death in people suffering from severe burns. This results from the dissemination of pathogens in the body, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of the three bacteria most ...

Two-for-one bacterial virulence factor revealed

We've all seen the headlines. "Man found to be shedding virulent strain of polio"; "Virulent flu strain in Europe hits the economy"; "Most virulent strain of E. coli ever seen contains DNA sequences from plague bacteria."

FIC proteins send bacteria into hibernation

Bacteria do not cease to amaze us with their survival strategies. A research team from the University of Basel's Biozentrum has now discovered how bacteria enter a sleep mode using a so-called FIC toxin. In the current issue ...

How Salmonella survives the macrophage's acid attack

Macrophages destroy bacteria by engulfing them in intracellular compartments, which they then acidify to kill or neutralize the bacteria. However, some pathogenic bacteria, such as Salmonella enterica, have evolved to exist ...

New mechanisms of 'social networking' in bacteria

Bacteria have traditionally been viewed as solitary organisms that "hang out on their own," says molecular biologist Kevin Griffith of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. However, scientists now realize that in fact, ...

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