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Bacterial Amyloids Appear To Play Role in Biofilms, Perhaps other Diseases Print E-mail

Because many types of bacteria depend on amyloid-rich curli to stick to host surfaces, disrupting these structures might open a new avenue for combating biofilms.

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Bacterial Cells Engineered to Blink in Synch Print E-mail

Fluorescence-tagged Escherichia coli cells can be made to "blink" in unison by means of a constructed network of genes and proteins that coordinates oscillations within the growing cell population, according to Jeff Hasty and colleagues from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in La Jolla.

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S. oneidensis Moves Electrons across Membranes to Minerals Print E-mail
Shewanella oneidensis and other anaerobic gram-negative bacterial species depend on several protein types to connect them to external and in soluble minerals containing iron or manganese.
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New Details about DNA CRISPRs and One That Targets RNA Print E-mail

 Audio Interview with Michael and Becky Terns

Microbial clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats- better known as "CRISPR"-systems act in some ways like mammalian immune systems.
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Cecropin-Producing Tomatoes Resist Bacterial Wilt, Spot Print E-mail

 

As part of an effort to fight several bacterial diseases that can lead to 10% losses of tomato crops, researchers from the Republic of China on Taiwan moved genes encoding the antibacterial cecropin B peptides from lepidoptera into tomatoes.
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Progress and Shortcomings in Federal Biodefense, Synthetic DNA Arenas Print E-mail

In January during his State of the Union speech before Congress, President Barack Obama alluded briefly to an "initiative that will give us the capacity to respond faster and more effectively to bioterrorism or an infectious disease-a plan that will counter threats at home and strengthen public health abroad."

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Minitopics Print E-mail

 

Click the title to view all the mini-topics for this issue.
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