All articles by Linda Stewart – Page 324
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NewsGenome studies uncover common ancestor for 600 scattered fungal species
About 600 seemingly disparate fungi that never found a good fit along the fungal family tree have been shown to have a common ancestor, according to a University of Alberta-led research team that used genome sequencing to give these peculiar lifeforms their own taxonomical grouping.
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NewsResearchers cultivate ‘impossible’ microbe that can grow on nitrogen while producing methane
Researchers have managed to grow a marine heat-loving methanogen that can turn nitrogen and carbon dioxide into ammonia and methane by using hydrogen.
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NewsHidden Nsp1 cavity means Covid’s Spike protein is no longer the only target
Researchers have revealed the existence of a hidden ’’pocket’ on the surface of the non-structural protein Nsp1 on the surface of the Covid-19 virus which could offer a potential drug target and alternative to the Spike protein targeted by vaccines.
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NewsResearchers develop silicone sponge that sucks up microbial dark matter
A team of researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has developed a “sponge” made of porous, formable silicone embedded in a chip, which can suck up unknown microorganisms in the environment for further research.
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NewsResearcher receives €1.5m from ERC to probe insecticide resistance in malaria transmission
Dr Victoria Ingham, a scientist at Heidelberg Medical Faculty and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant of €1.5 million for her research on the infectious disease malaria.
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CareersAMI internship leads Zoe down path of antimicrobial resistance
Zoe Dunphy undertook a lab internship in 2020 in Trinity College Dublin’s microbiology department, funded by an AMI Summer Studentship Grant. She reveals how that experience has developed her work on AMR.
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NewsGene-delivering viruses cross into brain in step toward gene therapy for neurological diseases
A family of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) has been developed that are capable of delivering gene therapies to the brain, a particularly challenging target tissue.
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NewsHIV infection leaves memory that persists in cells even when virus is gone
A new study explains why people living with HIV may suffer from chronic inflammation, which can put them at an increased risk of developing comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease and neurocognitive dysfunction and how suppression or even eradication of HIV in the body may not resolve it. ...
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NewsMicrobiome in wood warbler’s gut driven by evolution rather than diet
Scientists have found that differences among the microbes that live within wood warblers’ digestive tracts are not primarily driven by diet diversity, contrary to a recently proposed hypothesis.
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NewsDisease-resistant corals can rescue their more vulnerable neighbours
Disease-resistant corals can be used to help “rescue” corals that are more vulnerable to disease, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, that monitored a disease outbreak at a coral nursery in Little Cayman, Cayman Islands.
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NewsHospitals are riskier than farms when it comes to superbug transmission - but beware your pet
A deadly drug resistant bacterium that rivals MRSA is found in livestock, pets and the wider environment, but is rarely transmitted to humans through this route, scientists have found.
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NewsVibrio toxins force key proteins to build ‘roads to nowhere’
Toxins released by a type of bacteria that cause diarrhoeal disease hijack cell processes, forcing important proteins to abandon jobs that are key to proper cell function and assemble into ’roads to nowhere’, a new study has found.
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NewsResearch team develops alginate hydrogels that can support bacterial cell growth
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed modified alginate hydrogels that can endure the growth of bacteria, allowing them to synthesize important enzymes.
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NewsCommon fungus eradicates toxic mercury from soil and water
Researchers have found that the fungus Metarhizium robertsii removes mercury from the soil around plant roots, and from fresh and saltwater, and have genetically engineered the fungus to amplify its mercury detoxifying effects.
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NewsFrequencies cloaked within song could trick systems into triggering deadly pathogen release
Researchers have shown how that the safe operation of a negative pressure room – a space in a hospital or biological research laboratory designed to protect outside areas from exposure to deadly pathogens – can be disrupted by an attacker armed with little more than a smartphone.
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NewsCOVID-19 reanimates latent viruses in cells – particularly in ME patients
Researchers have found that COVID-19 reactivates viruses that had become latent in cells following previous infections, particularly in people with chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as ME/CFS.
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NewsAntibiotic resistant microbes in gut make C difficile more infectious
Scientists have found that Enterococcus – an antibiotic-resistant, opportunistic pathogen – works together with Clostridioides difficile in the human gut, reshaping and enhancing the metabolic environment in the gut so that C. difficile can thrive.
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NewsDuplicate genes play key role in formation of legumes’ nitrogen fixing structures
Researchers have found that a duplication of the genes plays a key role in the processes governing the formation of symbiotic structures between nitrogen-fixing bacteria and leguminous plants.
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NewsSARS-CoV-2 alters functioning of RNA in infected cells
Researchers have shown that infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, changes the functioning of host cell RNA.
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NewsHumps and bumps provide home for microbes jumpstarting soil formation in glacial moraine
Scientists have discovered how topographical irregularities in barren substrates exposed by a melting Himalayan glacier are driving the formation of a variety of pioneering microbial communities that will pave the way for soil formation.