Breaking down the microbiology world one bite at a time
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- Natural silicates against bacteria and cancer
Halloysite nanotubes play a double role as an antibacterial compound and an anticancer drug carrier.
- Tracking the microbiome across the human body
Researchers measured the human microbiome at different places in the human body and found that its composition is related to prediabetes and overall human health.
- Microscopic Warfare: T6SS in our Oceans
A study shows Vibrio bacteria use T6SS to inject deadly toxins into shrimp.
- Slime after slime: “Algae” plagues a Florida lake
What effect does the yearly cyanobacteria bloom have on human health?
- Probiotics: future of food safety?
Aflatoxin, a toxic fungi, can lurk in foods. Researchers are exploring a natural solution: probiotic bacteria found in yoghurt. Can these friendly microbes help to make our food safe?
- A common mouth microbe might contribute to colon cancer
In depth genomic analysis pinpoints a specific group of bacteria within a subspecies that may play a large role in worsening colon cancer outcomes.
- The Tale of The Monkey That Ate a Man’s Food
Every diet is specific to its animal. What are the ramifications of humanizing the gut microbiome of a wild animal?
- Gut prepares for war against invaders using the complement system
Stromal cells in the gut stimulated by gut microbiota produce complement that helps restrict pathogens while sparing commensals.
- Bacterial Sixth Sense: Detecting Death for Survival
Some species of bacteria are able to protect themselves in response to the death of their kin.
- Identifying the Airborne Assassins of Algal Blooms
How do airborne bacteria kill oceanic algal blooms?
- Going Undercover: Plants Fight Fungi with Messenger Molecules
Plants smuggle vesicles containing the information for antimicrobial effectors into fungi to defend themselves against an ongoing infection.
- Resource management in overworked microbes
When Pseudomonas putida is made to produce lots of protein, the bacterium re-organizes its metabolism in previously unknown ways.
- Life after ice
Hungry microbes in the rapidly warming Antarctic grow faster and consume more carbon under warming scenarios.
- How do microbes contribute to skin inflammation?
Microbe residence on skin in early life controls allergic inflammation in the skin in adult life
- Dandruff as explained by forensic science
Can your itchy scalp be a source of your DNA?
- Viruses in the gut may be tied to chronic stress
Stress can induce or be modulated by viruses found in the gut microbiomes of mice.
- Vitamin A deficiency hinders our Neutrophil Defense
Vitamin A protects us against Salmonella by aiding our immune system
- Unlocking Nature’s Secret Language
Scientists are harnessing a chemical language between plants and microbes to create better crops.
- Symbiotic Solutions! Microbes help trees tolerate climate change
As changing temperatures threaten trees with extinction, adapted microbial communities may be the key to survival.
- It takes guts to fight mental disorders
Study using twins finds specific gut bacteria that are linked to our mental health status
- Degraded polysaccharides as a foraging cue
Bacteria sense degraded polysaccharides as a signal for nutrient exhaustion.
- Ebola Virus Sneaks Out Through Cellular Tunnels
Ebola virus causes infection by using thin tubes called tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) to move its genetic material from one cell to another and avoid being killed by drugs.
- Viral Ghosts: COVID-19 leaves a proinflammatory trace
SARS-CoV-2 protein fragments bind with viral RNA and may be responsible for the extreme inflammatory effects of COVID-19
- Botany tango: Saga of Jasmonic acid & Streptomyces
In the plant-microbe dance, Streptomyces and plant hormone jasmonic acid waltz through a tale of defense and adaptation.
- Grip Strength – A Silent Indicator of COVID-19 Severity
Could being a bodybuilder reduce your risk of developing long COVID? Researchers are learning how hand grip strength may predict COVID-19 severity
- A cheesy story of microbial cooperation
Microbes cooperate during cheddar cheese formation and give it its unique flavour.
- Microbial Marvels: Rescuing Earth One Dye At A Time
Dislike beets but like the color red? We now have a yeast producing the same red color but waaaay better for the environment.
- Your Body’s Timberland: Microbial Ecology Fighting Cancer
What can we learn by measuring changes in the microbiome of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients?
- Clingy Yeast: Perks of being tenacious
Clingy microbes can use their clinginess to become even more clingy, and in some instances pathogenic!
- Tiny Warriors: Battle between nanoparticles and bacteria
Let us dive into the world of tiny zinc nanoparticles and find out about their fight against biofilm-forming bacteria
- Mosquitoes, Midguts and Malady
How frequency of blood meals influences Dengue virus transmission.
- Diabetic connections lie in our gut
Gut bacteria’s unique process of breaking down sugars into energy leads to host insulin resistance.
- Exploring the vaginal microbiome
A citizen-science study gives insight into associations with lifestyle, life history and health
- MicroBites is 3!
MicroBites 3 year anniversary! Let’s have a look at the past three years in numbers.
- Unravelling Biofilm Battlefield to Save Lives
A competing bacteria offers us a metabolite to dismantle E. coli biofilms
- Antarctic Fungi Could Help Fight Leukemia
Extremophile fungi evolve novel biochemical pathways to survive, and some could produce cancer-fighting compounds.
- Self-healing ‘leather’
What are ELMs and how can fungi be used to create self-repairing living materials?
- Fungus: Nature’s Ice Machines
These fungi have a unique ability to make ice crystals. Here is the protein responsible.
- Immune troubles and the anxiety that sticks around
How your parents’ cold might have given you anxiety before you even left the womb.
- Vibrio cholerae runs away from D-amino acid
Toxic D-amino acids trigger an escape response in Vibrio cholerae.
- Enzymes degrading plastic – an eco-friendly solution to plastic pollution
Novel enzymes can break down plastics into biodegradable compounds. This process can be accelerated by adding biofilms to the mix.
- Minimalism in the microbial world
Minimalistic lifestyle is in vogue! Yet, for bacteria, scientists are the trendsetters, giving them the nudge they need to rock the minimalist vibe.
- How the Microbiome Determines Preterm Lung Health
The microbiome shapes health from infancy. Learn how the microbiome could become a treatment option for preterm infants.
- Social Immunity in Ants: Ants Could Teach Us How to Better Curb Pandemics
The potential of using ants as a model system to study and manage diseases in a social population
- Flu’s Trojan Horse: Hijack an Iron Transporter for Cellular Invasion
Influenza virus employs a stealthy way for cellular infiltration. Scientists discover flu’s new entry route, aiding understanding of viral transmission.
- Check for Vaginal Infections on a Paper at Home
A new device is on the market, it is just like a home pregnancy test, but it detects vaginal infections.
- Cancer-causing bacteria
How a single mutation in Helicobacter pylori can promote gastric cancer
- Probiotic Progress for Coral’s Impending Climate Disaster
Nourishing Symbiotic Allies in a Warming Ocean
- Disguising microbes to unleash an immune army against cancer
Microbes are engineered to display tumor antigen resulting in immune system fighting off cancer successfully.
- Bacterial buddies
Human-dog microbial connections go beyond genetics. Close interactions shape shared microbial communities, enhancing insights into human-pet relationships and health dynamics.
- Amphibious Defenders for Viral Diseases
How a frog-secreted peptide can be efficient as a broad-spectrum antiviral agent
- Photosynthetic “Living Paint” Breathes Life into Green Future
What if a microorganism could help us breathe better, on Earth and in space?
- Breathless: The Impact of Air Pollution on Microbial Balance
The relationship between air pollution, microbiome, & health outcomes, highlighting the lung-gut interactions.
- Nitrogenase & Climate change: From past to future
Let’s dive into how the past of nitrogenase can guide onto mitigating future challenges of climate changes.
- Vibrio cholerae hunts immune cells using biofilm.
Vibrio cholerae can form biofilm around immune cells and collectively kill the immune cells.
- Do Spiny Lobsters Stand a Chance Against Predators?
Do parasites make spiny lobsters easier prey?
- Can red seaweed be the solution for cow burps?
Cows produce a lot of methane in their stomachs, but seaweed can stop that. But is there a catch?
- How Desert Fungi Could Help Grow Astronauts’ Salads
Cultivation with extremophile fungi increases crops’ nutritional value and resilience to extreme stressors amid exoplanetary-like conditions
- Diabetogenic viruses: Leveraging of the virus – to fight the virus
To combat virus-led diabetes progression, could virus-like particles be the next step?”
- Zika Viruses’ Unlikely Friend
Discover the unexpected link between dengue and Zika virus and how it relates to pregnancy.
- Herpes and Brain: Insights from organoid research
Understanding the connection between HSV and encephalitis.
- Microbes within us are saying yes to fat! How?
Snhg9 RNA suppresses lipid metabolism and protects against obesity. But here’s the twist: microorganisms within us are repressing its production.
- Using Green Bacteria to Engineer a Greener World
Combination of genetic engineering with innovative chemistry creates a “living material” that can use cyanobacteria to fight pollution.
- International Microorganism Day: An ode to van Leeuwenhoek
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, the “Father of Microbiology,” revealed the hidden world through handmade microscopes, pioneering modern microbiology. Curiosity triumphs!
- How do group-living spiders transmit their microbiome?
Group-living spiders majorly get their microbiome by feeding on the vomit of their surrounding adults and other social interactions.
- Salivating Enhancement of Dengue Virus
How a component of mosquito saliva enhances transmission of Dengue virus.
- Fighting HIV with CRISPR
Discover how CRISPR revolutionises HIV treatment and promises a cure with gene editing
- Deny Cell Death: A Viral Doppelgänger’s Plea
Virus finds a new trick to cheat death . Scientists discover viruses encode insulin-mimicking viral proteins to halt cell death.
- Searching the genomes of lactic acid bacteria for compounds relevant to human health
Lactic acid bacteria have the capacity to produce many compounds that eradicate other bacteria and help ensure a healthy human microbiome.
- Sentinels of the far south: Studying Antarctic Birds to Prevent Virus Pandemics
How can Snowy Sheathbills help us discover and track viruses circulating the world?
- How does you falling ill affect the microbes that exist within you?
When we fall ill, not only are we affected but several more microbes within us are also altered.
- Sleeping soundly with the gut microbiome
How does temperature affect the composition of the gut microbiome in hibernating bats?
- Cool Fungi
Will fungi be our future air-conditioners?
- Fast, Accurate, and Accessible: A new game-changing Approach to Antibiotic Testing
Did your doctor ever say “Come back with results of your lab tests in a day”? Maybe from now on it would just be “Come back in 2 hours”. Read on to know more.
- No needle, no cry: intranasal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine
Future pandemics might be prevented using a safe, non-invasive nasal spray.
- Anorexia: could the gut-brain axis play a role?
Can the gut-microbiota-brain axis give insight to the mysterious pathogenesis of anorexia?
- A piece of chocolate a day…
Dark chocolate has a beneficial effect on gut microbiota composition and positively influences your emotional status.
- Bacterial Poseidon: Protecting Oceans from Plastic
Could a new deep-sea bacterium protect the oceans from plastic contaminants?
- Vax the Bats! Can bat herpes help stop the spread of rabies?
To prevent rabies spillover to humans, scientists look into developing a transmissible vaccine for bats using a herpes virus.
- The gutty feeling
Did you know that a certain kind of bacteria growing in your stomach could be the reason you feel stressed or anxious to go socialise?
- Battling antibiotic resistance with endolysins
Discover the powerful potential of endolysins, specialized enzymes that can combat drug-resistant Gram-positive infections, offering hope in the fight against antibiotic resistance.
- World microbiome day 2023!
Enter the world of microbiomes and celebrate this day with us!
- Are shorter winters helping microbes bloom?
Microbes flourish in defiance to the once cold, inhospitable tundra of the Arctic as climate changes…
- CRISPRi: a DNA silencer worth making noise about
This new tool and future developments in CRISPRi technology will likely be important for humans to work with microorganisms, together pushing the limits of biotechnology.
- The bacterial gift of vertebrate eyesight
500 million years ago, a bacterial gene was incorporated into the evolution of the human eye
- Meditative Mindset
How meditation and diet could shape health
- Microbes in stressed environments: to each, its own!
How different is gut microbiome in a healthy intestinal environment compared to the one in a stressed environment?
- Technology to tackle viral infections
How can we use new sequencing technologies to efficiently screen for viral infections such as SARS-CoV-2?
- Breaking the Mold: A Yeasty Way to Fight Against Viral Infection
Yeasts are not just for bread. Scientists discovered yeasts might hold the key to understanding how we combat viral infection.
- Wired for Clean Energy: How unique bacteria make electricity-conducting wires
Meet the methane-munching bacteria that make their own molecular wires, paving the way for a sustainable future!
- Fermented Ice Cream: Creamy and Probiotic Science
Take your taste buds on a journey to health with fermented ice cream: the creamy and probiotic dessert that packs a punch!
- Futuristic fungi
Uncovering the electrical activity of fungi: A promising opportunity for unconventional computing systems
- The reign of viruses in acid mine drainage
Being the boss of Acid Mine Drainage is no easy task. Ask the viruses!
- The “rare” residents of the eighth continent
The succession patterns of microbes growing on plastic differ from the common species known to humans, and this could cause problems down the road. To learn more, keep on reading…
- Skin Microbiota Defends Colonisation By Candida auris
What happens when your commensal community in your skin has to subdue one of its own who has gone rogue?
- Transmissible microbiomes
Can person-to-person interactions define your innermost microbes?
- Gut check: how exercise shapes the microbial community in our gut
Listen to your gut: The surprising link between exercise and gut health – boosting your fitness or harming your microbiota?
- Eating viruses!
Viruses can also serve as energy food for some organisms, what impact does it have on the earth’s energy flow?
- Solanimycin: The new antifungal in town
Introducing solanimycin: A new antifungal compound from the potato plant-annihilating bacterium Dickeya solani
- Resilience is key
With the constant production of new antimicrobials, how do mutations in the genome help bacteria fight back against them?
Tags:
Agriculture Algae Animal Antibiotic resistance Antibiotics Antimicrobial Astrobiology Bacteria Bacteriophages Behavior Biofilm Biotechnology Cancer Climate change Communication Community Cooperation Covid CRISPR Cyanobacteria Dengue Disease DNA Dysbiosis E. coli Energy Environment Evolution Extremophiles Food Forensics Fungi Gut Health Host-microbe interaction Human health Hyphae Immune system Insects Lactobacillus Metabolism Microbiome Nitrogen fixation Organelle Pathogen Plant Plastic Pollution RNA Soil Survival Symbiosis Technology Viruses Vitamins Yeast
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