Microbiology

Genome Landscape Study Shows Viruses Evolve According To Host Bacteria

Biologists at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University have examined the complete genomes of viruses that infect the bacteria E. coli, P. aeruginosa and L. lactis and have found that many of these viral genomes exhibit codon bias, the tendency ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 4 2008 - 10:56am

Ecosystem Surprise: Some Bacteria Are Regional

Bacteria are ubiquitous on Earth. They've been found from the upper reaches of the atmosphere to miles below the ocean floor. Because of their ubiquity, scientists have long believed bacteria to be cosmopolitan, having similar genetic histories across ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 4 2008 - 12:45pm

Comparison Of Real-time PCR And Blood Culture For The Diagnosis Of Bloodstream Infections In Onco-hematologic Patients.

Objectives. Sepsis is a syndrome that results from a dysregulated host response to infection which can rapidly lead to organ dysfunction and death. The aim of this study was the microbiological and clinical assessment of a new real-time PCR test (SeptiFas ...

Article - Lorenzo Nardi - Mar 14 2008 - 1:08pm

Rethinking The Rules Of Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis by plants, algae, and some bacteria is crucial to life on Earth. It results in food from sunlight and in its process organisms release oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution say a new discovery puts a dramat ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 13 2008 - 2:49pm

Study: Gs Alpha Protein Is Biomarker For Depression

Despite decades of research, the biological basis of depression is unknown, and the molecular and cellular targets of antidepressant treatment remain elusive, although it is likely that these drugs have one or more primary targets. Researchers from the Uni ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 11 2008 - 11:40pm

Sonic Hedgehog Gene At It Again- New Insight In How Digits Are Formed

Developmental biologists at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) say they have gained new understanding of how digits grow and why each digit is different from the others. Though the research was done on chick digits, it ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 11 2008 - 11:24pm

Microbial Profiles- Ecology's Version Of The Human Genome Project

5 million trillion trillion. That's a lot of zeroes but it's how many single-celled microbes there are on Earth. And they affect almost every ecological process. Though microbes are everywhere and essentially rule the planet, scientists have neve ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 12 2008 - 9:22pm

MicroRNA And The Pathway To Limb Regeneration

Regeneration, the replacement of damaged or lost body parts, is a shared trait among some animal species – as any youngster who has cut an earthworm in half can attest to. But the repair of damaged tissue and organs in higher animals is also one of the pri ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 15 2008 - 10:29am

LPL Overexpression Reconfigures Muscle To Use Fat For Energy

Overexpressing a protein involved in the uptake of fat in muscle of mice can improve their tolerance to cold temperatures, researchers find in a new study that showcases the over-looked role muscle may play in the cold response. When temperatures drop, mam ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 15 2008 - 10:30am

Fungi And The Evolutionary Development Of Sex

Fungi don't have sexes, they have mating types, but a new study in PLoS says there are similarities between the parts of DNA that determine the sex of plants and animals and the parts of DNA that determine mating types in certain fungi. It makes fungi ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 17 2008 - 11:53am