INDIA STARTS RESEARCH ON GE MOSQUITOES TO COMBAT DENGUE The Indian government launched an 18-month experimental project using genetically engineered mosquitoes to prevent the spread of Dengue and other vector-borne diseases. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes will be exposed to Wolbachia bacteria and then released into the wild to spread the bacteria. Infected mosquitoes would have reduced ability to transmit viruses and aid in the decline …

Lateral gene transfer enables chemical protection of beetles against antagonistic fungi Like all other living organisms, animals face the challenge of fending off enemies. Using chemical weaponry can be an effective strategy to stay alive. Instead of taking over this task themselves, many marine and terrestrial animals associate with microbial symbionts that can provide such protection. An international team of …

Cell-like nanorobots clear bacteria and toxins from blood Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed tiny ultrasound-powered robots that can swim through blood, removing harmful bacteria along with the toxins they produce. These proof-of-concept nanorobots could one day offer a safe and efficient way to detoxify and decontaminate biological fluids. Researchers built the nanorobots by coating gold …

Living Large: Exploration of Diverse Bacteria Signals Big Advance for Gene Function Prediction In the air, beneath the ocean’s surface, and on land, microbes are the minute but mighty forces regulating much of the planet’s biogeochemical cycles. To better understand their roles, scientists work to identify these microbes and to determine their individual contributions. While advances in sequencing technologies have …

Researchers Identify Bacteria, Viruses Ejected from the Ocean Certain types of bacteria and viruses are readily ejected into the atmosphere when waves break while other taxa are less likely to be transported by sea spray into the air, researchers reported. An interdisciplinary team of scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the University of California San Diego and the J. Craig Venter …

Beyond killing tuberculosis Montreal, May 11 2018 — Historically, our view of host defense against infection was that we must eliminate pathogens to eradicate disease. However, this perspective has recently been challenged as scientists have taken a lesson from plant biologists about an ancient strategy involving the ability to “tolerate” rather than “resist” infection to maintain health. This concept, referred …

✅شرکت Natural Energy West که تولیدکننده‌ی سوخت تجدیدپذیر کشور آلمان است، از کاهش ۵۰ درصدی تولید بیودیزل این شرکت خبر داده است. این شرکت در پاسخ به واردات بیودیزل از اندونزی و آرژانتین به اتحادیه‌ی اروپا، قصد کاهش تولید دارد. ?به گزارش رویترز این شرکت که سالانه حدود ۲۴۰.۰۰۰ تن بیودیزل را در کارخانه‌ی خود که در شهر marl آلمان …

✅ نیتروژن یک ماده مغذی اصلی در رشد و نمو گیاه به‌حساب می‏آید، همچنین کمبود این ترکیب از عوامل محدودکننده در عملکرد گیاهان به شمار می‏رود. امروزه نیتروژن مورد نیاز برای گیاه از طریق کودهای سنتزی تأمین می‏گردد. امّا استفاده بیش از حد از این کودها هزینه‏های گزاف مالی و محیط‏زیستی برای بشریت به ارمغان آورده است. این در حالی …

✅سازمان بهداشت جهانی (WHO) با افزایش روزافزون مقاومت باکتری‌ها به آنتی‌بیوتیک‌های مختلف و درمان‌های انگشت‌شماری که برای مقابله با آن درحال‌توسعه است، مقاومت به آنتی‌بیوتیک‌ها را یکی از سه تهدید بزرگی می‌داند که امروزه سلامتی انسان‌ها را نشانه رفته است. پروژه تحقیقاتی DRIVE-AB که توسط ائتلافی متشکل از دانشگاه جنوا (UNIGE) و آسترازنکا مدیریت می‌شود، مشخص کرده است که یک …

✅پروفسور Satinder Kaur Brar و همکارانش در مقاله‌ای که ماه آپریل ۲۰۱۸ در ژورنال Biochemical Engineering به چاپ رسانده‌اند، خبر از کشف یک نوع باکتری به نام Alcanivorax borkumensis داده‌اند که توانایی حذف ترکیبات نفتی موجود در دریا و خاک را با بازدهی بالا داراست. ?ذرات نفتی و اثرات محیط‌زیستی آن‌ها چالشی اساسی برای دانشمندان است. نشت ترکیبات نفتی اثرات …

Fresh snow coats the sidewalks outside Indigo Ag Inc.’s Boston offices, but inside the temperature is calibrated to mimic spring in the Midwest. Hundreds of almost identical soy seedlings sit beneath high-intensity arc lamps, basking in the artificially sunny 60F weather. The plants aren’t destined to stay identical for long. “We haven’t imposed the stress yet,” says Geoffrey von Maltzahn, the …

✅در پژوهش جدیدی که در Cell Chemical Biology منتشر شده، پژوهشگران از روش جدیدی استفاده کرده‌اند تا دریابند داروهای ضدسرطان چگونه به پروتئین‌های غشا، دهیدروروتات دی‌هیدروژناز (DHODH)، می‌پیوندند که یک هدف جدید برای سرطان است. ?پژوهشگران دانشگاه اوپسالا، موسسه‌ی کارولینسکا و دانشگاه آکسفورد از روش جدیدی برای از کار انداختن تنها یک نوع خاص از آنزیم از بین هزاران نوع …

Flesh-Eating Bacteria Contained by Botox and Peptide Antagonist Bacterial infections are generally a mild annoyance to the average person, often ranging from mild malaise to high fever. Yet, in rare cases, garden-variety bacterial infections, such as those that lead to strep throat, can go extremely awry and lead to massive tissue damage. For instance, the bacterium, known as Streptococcus pyogenes, …

Bugs the size of tiny twigs have a large impact on the rainforest, according to a new study led by University of Dayton researcher Chelse Prather and published in the current issue of the prominent journal Ecology. “The importance of small insects, especially things that eat plants in rainforest like the walking stick, has been virtually ignored,” said Prather, assistant professor of …

  ✅ در گروهی از سویه های فعال فتوسنتزی که آنها را با نام «سیانوباکتری»‌ها می‌شناسیم، پتانسیل بسیار بالایی جهت کاربردهای بیوتکنولوژیکی دیده می‌شود و به این دلیل بسیار مورد توجه می‌باشند.در پروژه photobiocat اتحادیه اروپا، دانشجویان دکترای بین‌المللی زیر نظر متخصص؛ از نور به عنوان سوخت برای سرعت بخشیدن به واکنش‌های آنزیمی، به وسیله سیانوباکتری‌ها استفاده می‌کنند. امید است …

✅ در ماه سپتامبر سال ۱۸۴۵، کشور ایرلند دچار یک قحطی فاجعه‏بار شد. در اثر این قحطی، یک و نیم میلیون نفر از مردم ایرلند که اکثر آن‌ها کودکان زیر ۵ سال بودند از بین رفتند. این قحطی به دلیل شیوع ناگهانی و سریع بیماری بلایت سیب‏زمینی، حادث شد. تمام مزارع سیب‏زمینی در این کشور به دلیل شیوع سریع این …

Highly complex interactions among roots, fungi and bacteria underlie the ability of some trees to clean polluted land, according to a novel study by bioinformatics and plant-biology experts from McGill University and Université de Montréal. Fast-growing trees, such as willows, are known to tolerate and even rejuvenate soil contaminated with petroleum by-products or heavy metals. The clean-up of soil in this way …

Scientists find single letter of genetic code that makes African Salmonella so dangerous Scientists at the University of Liverpool have identified a single genetic change in Salmonella that is playing a key role in the devastating epidemic of bloodstream infections currently killing around 400,000 people each year in sub-Saharan Africa. Invasive non-typhoidal Salmonellosis (iNTS) occurs when Salmonella bacteria, which normally …

Iron-corroding bacteria shown to possess enzymes enabling them to extract electrons from extracellular solids A research team led by NIMS and RIKEN has discovered that sulfate-reducing bacteria responsible for anaerobic iron corrosion in petroleum pipelines, etc. possess a group of cell surface enzymes which enable them to directly extract electrons from extracellular solids. Current anticorrosion methods involve the use of …

Bacteria in a beetle makes it a leaf-eater A leaf-eating beetle has evolved a symbiotic relationship with bacteria that allows the insect to break down pectin — part of a plant’s cell wall that is indigestible to most animals. The journal Cell published the findings on the novel function of the bacterium, which has a surprisingly tiny genome — much smaller than …

How plants ‘muscle up’ against bacteria in the cold Michigan State University scientists have furthered our understanding on how a plant protein, called CAMTA, helps plants strengthen themselves as they anticipate long periods of cold, such as three to four months of winter in the American midwest or northern Europe. The long-term goal behind the research is to breed or …

In a new study, published in PLOS Pathogens, the scientists show that a novel strain of the inherited bacteria, called Wolbachia, strongly blocks transmission of dengue and Zika virus in infected mosquitoes. This finding could offer a potential alternative to strains already being tested as virus control tools. The scientists have already carried out the research in the mosquito species …

Botulinum-type toxins jump to a new kind of bacteria Enterococci are hardy microbes that thrive in the gastrointestinal tracts of nearly all land animals, including our own, and generally cause no harm. But their ruggedness has lately made them leading causes of multi-drug-resistant infections, especially in settings like hospitals where antibiotic use disrupts the natural balance of intestinal microbes. So …

Much like animals and to a degree humans, bacteria enjoy a good fight. They stab, shove and poison each other in pursuit of the best territory. While this much is clear, little is known about the tactics and strategy that bacteria use during their miniature wargames. In a study published in Current Biology, researchers at the University of Oxford have …

Labeling a bacterial cell ‘jacket’ You have three to five pounds of bacteria living in and on your body right now. That’s some 38 trillion bacteria, researchers estimate. Your immune system has to manage all of them, sorting out the good from the bad bugs. “We have an amazing immune system to keep that all in check, and then to …

Gut bacteria may hold clues to Parkinson’s disease LOWELL, Mass. – The saying “Listen to your gut” is taking on new meaning in the hunt for clues about Parkinson’s disease. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded a UMass Lowell public health professor a $2.1 million grant to study the relationship between gut bacteria and Parkinson’s disease. The five-year …

Microscopes enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI) could help clinical microbiologists diagnose potentially deadly blood infections and improve patients’ odds of survival, according to microbiologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). In a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, the scientists demonstrated that an automated AI-enhanced microscope system is “highly adept” at identifying images of bacteria quickly and accurately. …

Lactic acid bacteria can protect against Influenza A virus, study finds ATLANTA — Lactic acid bacteria, commonly used as probiotics to improve digestive health, can offer protection against different subtypes of influenza A virus, resulting in reduced weight loss after virus infection and lower amounts of virus replication in the lungs, according to a study led by Georgia State University. …

To better understand how beneficial organisms (symbionts) are transmitted between host generations, researchers investigated the role of bacterial that lives within its host (endosymbionts) has on fungal host reproduction, and the reproductive genes they regulate. The bacterial endosymbiont, Burkholderia, is recognized as a mutualist, where both species of organism benefit from association, but was predicted to have evolved from a …

How do bacteria adapt? A fundamental prerequisite for life on earth is the ability of living organisms to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Physicists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have now determined that the regulation mechanisms used by bacteria to adapt to different environments are based on a global control …