Cutting costs to the bone
A new and cheaper method for screening ancient bones to determine whether they contain DNA has been described in a PhD thesis by a conservator at the University of Stavanger's Archaeological Museum.
View ArticleNew experiments reveal the types of bacteria involved in human decomposition
The type of bacteria involved in human decomposition can change over time, according to new research published October 30th in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, by Aaron Lynne and colleagues at Sam...
View ArticleResearchers sequence world's first butterfly bacteria, find surprises
For the first time ever, a team led by the University of Colorado Boulder has sequenced the internal bacterial makeup of the three major life stages of a butterfly species, a project that showed some...
View Article100K genome project unveils 20 more foodborne pathogen genomes
The 100K Genome Project, led by the University of California, Davis, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and Agilent Technologies, today announced that...
View ArticleNew study offers hope for halting incurable citrus disease
The devastating disease Huonglongbing, or citrus greening, looms darkly over the United States, threatening to wipe out the nation's citrus industry, whose fresh fruit alone was valued at more than...
View ArticleToxin produced by bacteria could serve as a model for next-generation...
The recent rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a serious public health threat, and there is a need for new therapeutic strategies to combat these infections. A study published by Cell Press on...
View ArticleMicrobial detection array detects plague in ancient human remains
(Phys.org) —Scientists who study past pandemics, such as the 14th century Black Death that devastated much of Europe, might soon be turning to an innovative biological detection technology for some...
View ArticleScientists about sequencing data: We drown in data but thirst for knowledge
The availability of genome data has revolutionized modern biology and molecular medicine. However, with the costs for genome sequencing dropping by several orders of magnitude down to 200 EUR for a...
View ArticleSequencing efforts miss DNA crucial to bacteria's disease causing power
Genomic sequencing is supposed to reveal the entire genetic makeup of an organism. For infectious disease specialists, the technology can be used to analyze a disease-causing bacterium to determine how...
View ArticleResearch explores processes behind cell division
A new theoretical framework outlined by a Harvard scientist could help solve the mystery of how bacterial cells coordinate processes that are critical to cellular division, such as DNA replication, and...
View ArticleUsing test tube experiments to study how bacterial species evolve antibiotic...
Given a critical change in the environment, how exactly, do species adapt? Professor Tom Vogwill and colleagues wanted to get at the heart of this evolutionary question by measuring the growth rates...
View ArticleUnexpected cross-species contamination in genome sequencing projects
As genome sequencing has gotten faster and cheaper, the pace of whole-genome sequencing has accelerated, dramatically increasing the number of genomes deposited in public archives. Although these...
View ArticleUntangling DNA with a droplet of water, a pipet and a polymer
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...
View ArticleHow bacterial cell recognizes its own DNA
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 -...
View ArticleResearchers find the genome of the cultivated sweet potato has bacterial DNA
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with members from Belgium, China, Peru and the U.S. has found evidence of bacterial DNA in the genome of the cultivated sweet potato. In their paper published in...
View ArticleQuasi-sexual gene transfer drives genetic diversity of hot spring bacteria
New work from a team including Carnegie's Devaki Bhaya and Michelle Davison used massive DNA sequencing of bacterial populations that grow in the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park to determine...
View ArticleScientists develop new technique for analyzing the epigenetics of bacteria
Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a new technique to more precisely analyze bacterial populations, to reveal epigenetic mechanisms that can drive virulence. The...
View ArticleBacterial genome scalpel can identify key gene regions
In a study that twists nature's arm to gain clues into the varied functions of the bacterial genome, North Carolina State University researchers utilize a precision scalpel to excise target genomic...
View ArticleClamshell-shaped protein puts the 'jump' in 'jumping genes'
Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have deciphered the structure and unusual shape of a bacterial protein that prepares segments of DNA for the insertion of so-called jumping genes. The clamshell...
View ArticleEnzyme helps detect foreign DNA
The human immune system responds to DNA from pathogens by triggering the production of a defense molecule known as interferon. A research team led by A*STAR scientists has now pinpointed an enzyme...
View ArticleResearchers find genetic defences of bacteria don't aid antibiotic resistance
When bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, they alter the expression of a number of genes within their genome. One of these responses, known as the SOS response, results in an increase in the rate of...
View ArticleScientists take steps to make weak TB drugs strong again
Biophysicists have discovered why the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) are naturally somewhat resistant to antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones. Their findings, based on mapping the detailed...
View ArticleNew microfluidic device may speed up DNA insertion in bacteria, the first...
Genetically engineering any organism requires first getting its cells to take in foreign DNA. To do this, scientists often perform a process called electroporation, in which they expose cells to an...
View ArticleWater bears do not have extensive foreign DNA, new study finds
Tardigrades, also known as moss piglets or water bears, are eight-legged microscopic animals that have long fascinated scientists for their ability to survive extremes of temperature, pressure, lack of...
View ArticleFactor preserves DNA integrity in bacteria despite assault from antibiotics
A key biochemical enables bacteria to repair otherwise fatal damage to their DNA, including that caused by antibiotics. That is the finding of a study led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center...
View ArticleByzantine skeleton yields 800-year-old genomes from a fatal infection
Eight hundred years ago, in a hardscrabble farming community on the outskirts of what was once one of the fabled cities of the ancient world, Troy, a 30-year-old woman was laid to rest in a stone-lined...
View ArticleHow life survives: Researchers confirm basic mechanism of DNA repair
Day in and day out, in our bodies, the DNA in cells is damaged for a variety of reasons, and thus intercellular DNA-repair systems are fundamental to the maintenance of life. Now scientists from the...
View ArticleMethod to identify bacteria in blood samples works in hours instead of days
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a desktop diagnosis tool that detects the presence of harmful bacteria in a blood sample in a matter of hours instead of days. The...
View ArticleMany forks make light work
New insights into the control of DNA replication and cell division in Corynebacterium glutamicum, a biotechnologically important microorganism, could help to optimize the industrial production of amino...
View ArticleDNA delivery technology joins battle against drug-resistant bacteria
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, affecting anyone, at any age, in any country, according to the World Health Organization. Currently, 700,000 deaths each year...
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