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Humans are a cocktail of bacteria and human cells

Gene experts after studying the DNA of hundreds of different kinds of bacteria in the human gut have reached the conclusion that the human race may not be quite as human as we may think.

4 Jun 2006

WRN exonuclease structure and molecular mechanism imply an editing role in DNA end processing

A team of scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Scripps Research Institute has determined the crystal structure and molecular mechanisms of a key part of WRN, a protein that protects humans from premature aging and cancer.

23 Apr 2006

New discovery could help improve some forms of chemotherapy

The research looked at XPB helicase from an archaea, a single cell organism similar to bacteria. Helicases are enzymes that unwind or separate the strands of the nucleic acid double helix, an action that is critical to transcription and nucleotide excision repair (NER), as well as other cell processes.

11 Apr 2006

A putative RNA-interference-based immune system in prokaryotes

Researchers have used computational methods to predict what could be a prokaryotic RNA-silencing mechanism similar to the eukaryotic RNA- interference system.

20 Mar 2006

DinB DNA polymerase is a key player in DNA repair

A quarter century after they discovered it, researchers have identified the job of one of the most common DNA-damage response proteins. The enzyme has puzzled scientists because it is present in nearly every organism, which suggests that it is crucial to life, and yet, in laboratory experiments, its function has remained a mystery.

11 Jan 2006

New type of sulfite reductase

Biswarup Mukhopadhyay and Eric Johnson from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have discovered a novel enzyme that represents an ancient detoxification system and provides a clue to the development of early metabolism on earth.

7 Dec 2005

Genomics reveals mechanisms that engineer remarkable heat resistance in bacteria

Warm-blooded creatures maintain a relatively stable body temperature that cannot tolerate the stress of intense heat (or cold). When it's too hot proteins destabilize and degrade--in some cases, with fatal results.

24 Aug 2005

Genome studies may help target new drugs to fight them

One parasite causes a deadly sleeping sickness in Africa. The second damages the internal organs of millions of Latin Americans. The third causes terrible lesions on the face or limbs of victims from Brazil to India.

18 Jul 2005

Genomics tools provide clues to what causes 400 million cases of gastrointestinal disease each year

In a study that could benefit medical and food-safety research, scientists have used comparative genomics tools to find clues about why some strains of the bacterium Campylobacter – which each year cause more than 400 million cases of gastrointestinal disease – are more virulent than others.

4 Jan 2005

In a world first, scientists have successfully grown square bacteria in the lab

In a world first, Australian scientists have successfully grown an unusual square-shaped bacterium found in salt lakes that has mystified scientists for a quarter of a century.

7 Oct 2004

Analysis of Bacterial Genomes Begins to Unravel Complex Story of Metabolic Evolution

In a paper published in the current issue of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution , Arizona State University biochemists Jason Raymond, Christopher Staples and Robert Blankenship and Rice University's Janet Siefert do an analysis of the genomes of a large group of bacteria and archaea, comparing in particular similar genes that produce the protein nitrogenase.

7 Apr 2004

Comparative genomics to cast new light on other spirochete microbes

Three centuries after a pioneering Dutch microbiologist first observed the spiral-shaped oral pathogen Treponema denticola, scientists have deciphered the bacterium’s entire DNA sequence and used comparative genomics to cast new light on other spirochete microbes.

29 Mar 2004