http://www.physorg.com/biology-news/microbiology/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on microbiology and cell biology. What are the bare essentials of life, the indispensable ingredients required to produce a cell that can survive on its own? Can we describe the molecular anatomy of a cell, and understand how an entire organism functions as a system? http://www.physorg.com/news178459055.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:10:02 EST news178459055 (PhysOrg.com) -- Whitehead researchers have developed a new approach for genetics in human cells and used this technique to identify specific genes and proteins required for pathogens. http://www.physorg.com/news178454319.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:39:54 EST news178454319 Photosynthetic organisms need to cope with a wide range of light intensities, which can change over timescales of seconds to minutes. Too much light can damage the photosynthetic machinery and cause cell death. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution were part of a team that found that specific proteins in algae can act as a safety valve to dissipate excess absorbed light energy before it can wreak havoc in cells. http://www.physorg.com/news178378035.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:28:05 EST news178378035 When cells are confronted with an invading virus or bacteria or exposed to an irritating chemical, they protect themselves by going off their DNA recipe and inserting the wrong amino acid into new proteins to defend them against damage, scientists have discovered. http://www.physorg.com/news178377237.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:14:44 EST news178377237 Bacteria don't have easy lives. In addition to mammalian immune systems that besiege the bugs, they have natural enemies called bacteriophages, viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two days. http://www.physorg.com/news178375259.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:42:43 EST news178375259 (PhysOrg.com) -- Water expands when it freezes. Anyone who has ever left a can of soda or bottle of water in the freezer too long has witnessed this first hand. So how do plants and animals survive severe temperatures? http://www.physorg.com/news178307122.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:45:47 EST news178307122 Two new studies reveal in unprecedented detail how the ribosome interacts with other molecules to assemble new proteins and guide them toward their destination in biological cells. The studies used molecular dynamics flexible fitting (MDFF) to examine the interaction of the ribosome with two prominent molecular partners. http://www.physorg.com/news178207518.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:41 EST news178207518 (PhysOrg.com) -- The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). These protein motors play pivotal roles in gene expression and replication, and are vital to the survival of all biological cells, as well as infectious agents, such as the human papillomavirus, which has been linked to cervical cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news177954624.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:51:16 EST news177954624 Deep under the sea, there's a battle of life and death going on, with no holds barred. Sponges and other marine animals which cannot move around might seem to be defenceless against predators. Yet nothing is further from the truth. These animals produce biologically active chemical substances which provide them with an effective defence against their enemies. http://www.physorg.com/news177947175.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:10:02 EST news177947175 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Princeton biologists and engineers has dramatically improved the speed and accuracy of measuring an enigmatic set of proteins that influences almost every aspect of how cells and tissues function. The new method offers a long-sought tool for studying stem cells, cancer and other problems of fundamental importance to biology and medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news177780526.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:29:39 EST news177780526 (PhysOrg.com) -- Breakthrough research done earlier this year by a plant cell biologist at the University of California, Riverside has greatly accelerated scientists' knowledge on how plants and crops can survive difficult environmental conditions such as drought. http://www.physorg.com/news177774971.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:57:27 EST news177774971 (PhysOrg.com) -- In order to effectively fight pathogens, even at remote areas of the human body, immune cells have to move quickly and in a flexible manner. http://www.physorg.com/news177676884.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:30:03 EST news177676884 Researchers from Arizona State University have discovered that several species of microbes (cyanobacteria), at least one found prominently in the deserts of the Southwest, have evolved the trait of rope-building to lasso shifting soil substrates. http://www.physorg.com/news177661962.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:33:49 EST news177661962 Scientists have developed a simple, cheap, accurate test to find undetected landmines. http://www.physorg.com/news177597049.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:10:02 EST news177597049 When muscle cells need repair, they use odor-detecting tools found in the nose to start the process, researchers have discovered. http://www.physorg.com/news177598122.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:49:29 EST news177598122 (PhysOrg.com) -- Meiosis - the pairing and recombination of chromosomes, followed by segregation of half to each egg or sperm cell - is a major crossroads in all organisms reproducing sexually. Yet, how the cell precisely choreographs these chromosomal interactions is a long-standing question. http://www.physorg.com/news177322387.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:13:35 EST news177322387 Short-term memory may depend in a surprising way on the ability of newly formed neurons to erase older connections. That's the conclusion of a report in the November 13th issue of the journal Cell that provides some of the first evidence in mice and rats that new neurons sprouted in the hippocampus cause the decay of short-term fear memories in that brain region, without an overall memory loss. http://www.physorg.com/news177251287.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:28:44 EST news177251287 Got food poisoning? The cause might be bacterial spores, en extremely hardy survival form of bacteria, a nightmare for health care and the food industry and an enigma for scientists. Spore-forming bacteria, present almost everywhere in our environment, can also cause serious infectious diseases, such as tetanus, anthrax, and botulism. Now researchers from Sweden and the U.S. have made a breakthrough in our understanding of the molecular characteristics of spores that in the long term may lead to new methods for sterilizing food and medical equipment. The findings are published in the latest issue of the American scientific journal PNAS. http://www.physorg.com/news177242654.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:04:58 EST news177242654 (PhysOrg.com) -- A study of the genetic structure of viruses in an Antarctic lake has revealed an astonishing genetic richness in the large number of viral families discovered. http://www.physorg.com/news177147268.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:40:01 EST news177147268 Researchers have transplanted genetically modified hematopoietic stem cells into mice so that their developing red blood cells produce a critical lysosomal enzyme -preventing or reducing organ and central nervous system damage from the often-fatal genetic disorder Hurler's syndrome. http://www.physorg.com/news177004585.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:00:36 EST news177004585 Much as adrenaline coursing through our veins drives our body's reactions to stress, the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is behind plants' responses to stressful situations such as drought, but how it does so has been a mystery for years. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) in Valencia, Spain discovered that the key lies in the structure of a protein called PYR1 and how it interacts with the hormone. Their study, published online today in Nature, could open up new approaches to increasing crops' resistance to water shortage. http://www.physorg.com/news176993365.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:00:02 EST news176993365 Oncologists have had their hands tied because more than half of all human cancers have mutations that disable a protein called p53. As a critical anti-cancer watchdog, p53 masterminds several cancer-fighting operations within cells. When cells lose p53, tumors grow aggressively and often cannot be treated. http://www.physorg.com/news176992628.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:37:44 EST news176992628 Using imaging mass spectrometry, researchers at the University of California, San Diego have developed tools that will enable scientists to visualize how different cell populations of cells communicate. Their study shows how bacteria talk to one another - an understanding that may lead to new therapeutic discoveries for diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes and allergies. http://www.physorg.com/news176909065.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:25:31 EST news176909065 Researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech and Montana State University have discovered a fungal protein that plays a key role in causing disease in plants and animals and which also shields the pathogen from oxidative stress. The researchers have found that the fungal protein TmpL is critical for the infection of host tissue and helps these pathogens regulate oxidative stress responses that are caused by the presence of destructive reactive oxygen species, a natural feature of the adaptive response to infection. http://www.physorg.com/news176731093.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:10:01 EST news176731093 As global temperatures and energy costs continue to soar, renewable sources of energy will be key to a sustainable future. An attractive replacement for gasoline is biofuel, and in two studies published online in Genome Research, scientists have analyzed the genome structures of bioethanol-producing microorganisms, uncovering genetic clues that will be critical in developing new technologies needed to implement production on a global scale. http://www.physorg.com/news176663972.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:20:23 EST news176663972 When it comes to plants' innate immunity, like many of the dances of life, it takes two to tango. A receptor molecule in the plant pairs up with a specific molecule on the invading bacteria and, presto, the immune system swings into action to defend against the invasion of the disease-causing microbe. http://www.physorg.com/news176655045.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:55:27 EST news176655045 The same genes that are chemically altered during normal cell differentiation, as well as when normal cells become cancer cells, are also changed in stem cells that scientists derive from adult cells, according to new research from Johns Hopkins and Harvard. http://www.physorg.com/news176636772.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:46:42 EST news176636772 Organisms ensure the survival of their species by genetically adapting to the environment. If environmental conditions change too rapidly, the extinction of a species may be the consequence. A strategy to successfully cope with such a challenge is the generation of variable offspring that can survive in different environments. Even though a portion of the offspring may have a decreased chance to survive, the survival of the species as a whole is guaranteed. http://www.physorg.com/news176567521.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:32:55 EST news176567521 Like savvy Wall Street money managers, bacteria hedge their bets to increase their chances of survival in uncertain times, strategically investing their biological resources to weather unpredictable environments. http://www.physorg.com/news176402945.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:40:01 EST news176402945 The search for the holy grail of regenerative medicine -- the ability to "grow back" a perfect body part when one is lost to injury or disease -- has been under way for years, yet the steps involved in this seemingly magic process are still poorly understood. http://www.physorg.com/news176398617.html Biology - Cell & Microbiology Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:39:16 EST news176398617