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What is the relationship between a plant-based diet and the gut microbiome?

A recent study conducted a systematic review of the impact of plant-based diets on gut microbiota.

28 Mar 2023

Using probiotics to treat depression

Researchers discuss whether probiotics could be used as supplementary or primary therapy to manage major depressive disorder.

15 Mar 2023

New insights into how amino acids shaped the genetic code of ancient microorganisms

By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today-;including plants, animals, and humans.

27 Feb 2023

Mosaic RBD nanoparticles offer 100% protection against SARS-CoV-2 in animal model

A recent PNAS journal study has sought to address the above-stated drawback and developed a new strategy that involves a self-assembling scaffold of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). This technique can develop nanoparticles containing evenly incorporated heterotypic antigens.

24 Jan 2023

Structure and function of a newly discovered CRISPR immune system revealed

In a rare feat, Utah State University biochemists Thomson Hallmark and Ryan Jackson, along with collaborators, published not one, but two seminal papers in a top-tier, peer-reviewed journal this week.

4 Jan 2023

New type of CRISPR gene scissors discovered

Like humans, bacteria and archaea can be attacked by viruses. These microorganisms have developed their own immune defense strategies against their pathogens.

4 Jan 2023

Exposure to blue-green algae toxin shown to wreak havoc on gut bacteria and cause liver damage

Exposure to a specific type of blue-green algae toxin known as cylindrospermopsin has shown to wreak havoc on gut bacteria and an increased probability of irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, type 1 diabetes, obesity and inflammation of the liver – a precursor to liver cancer – according to a study led by the University of California, Irvine.

20 Dec 2022

Landmark study challenges a 70-year-old theory of protein folding

A landmark study by researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University reveals how a tiny cellular machine called TRiC directs the folding of tubulin, a human protein that is the building block of microtubules that serve as the cell’s scaffolding and transport system.

9 Dec 2022

UVA researchers solve a decades-old mystery about how bacteria can move

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers and their collaborators have solved a decades-old mystery about how E. coli and other bacteria are able to move.

27 Sep 2022

In vitro gut models reveal how microplastics affect the GI tract

Researchers hypothesize that exposure to polyethylene microplastics affect the human adult GI system in vitro under realistic conditions.

26 Sep 2022

Understanding what happens when two gut microbiomes clash together

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) – the transfer of lower intestinal fluids and microbes from one individual to another – is sometimes used to treat inflammatory gut diseases, including ulcerative colitis and bacterial infections.

15 Sep 2022

The role of nasal microbiome in Parkinson's disease

A recent study provides an overview of how the nasal bacterial population influences olfactory processing and neurodegeneration.

5 Sep 2022

Researchers challenge a popular scenario put forward to explain the arrival of the first eukaryotic organisms

In the beginning, there was boredom. Following the emergence of cellular life on earth, some 3.5 billion years ago, simple cells lacking a nucleus and other detailed internal structure dominated the planet. Matters would remain largely unchanged in terms of evolutionary development in these so-called prokaryotic cells-;the bacteria and archaea-;for another billion and a half years.

8 Aug 2022

Ancestral molecule from bacteria-like cells may offer evolutionary insight on sexual reproduction

A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, among others, presents the theory that egg-sperm fusion, a crucial feature of sexual reproduction in plants and animals, may have originated from an ancient form of genetic exchange that involved the fusion of bacteria-like microorganisms called archaea.

12 Jul 2022