Bacteria

Minister of Science and Technology Gila Gamliel and the head of the Isfaia Local Council, Munib Sabaa. Photo: Idan Media, for the Government Advertising Bureau

Oral bacteria linked to increased risk of stroke

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The lead researcher from the National Heart Disease Center in Osaka, notes: "In the future, if a rapid test is developed to identify harmful bacteria in the mouth and intestines, we could use this information to calculate stroke risk."
Image: Selenibacter rover cells (in green) under a microscope. Other colors represent different organisms in the salt. (Credit: Tomeu Viver)

The secret 'sex life' of bacteria: Study challenges old ideas about how species are formed

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Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found that bacteria not only create species, but also maintain them in a unique process reminiscent of sexual reproduction.
Fruit flavored electronic cigarettes are dangerous. can cause lung cancer and other diseases. The image was prepared using DALEE and is not a scientific image

A new study in PNAS reveals that fruit-flavored e-cigarettes harm the immune system of the lungs

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The Cancer Society: "The reason for using sweet flavors is an attempt to bring teenagers into the circle of users. Their sale must be banned immediately"
Lateral transfer of genes between bacteria and plants. The image was prepared using DALEE and is not a scientific image

Strengthening plant health: the role of gene exchange with bacteria

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New research has revealed how plants and bacteria swap genes to boost plant health and development. These genes affect key processes such as carbohydrate metabolism and hormone synthesis
A graphic illustration of the S2 meteorite impact and its immediate effects. Credit: Nadia Drabon

The asteroid the size of four Everests that changed the course of life on Earth

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It turns out that these giant meteorites actually had a positive effect on life compared to the later extinction-causing meteorites
Couple therapy of bacteria. Weizmann Institute illustration

in couples therapy

Molecular Systems Biology portal showing eCIS injects AI-predicted toxins. Artist's impression by Dr. Yitzhak Yadgari

Identifying new toxins using machine learning

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New research at the Hebrew University reveals how bacteria use a special mechanism, like a tiny syringe, to inject toxins into other organisms. Using artificial intelligence, the researchers identified over 2,000 possible toxins that may be injected through
An electron microscope image of phages that replicated inside bacterial cells that possess the immune system discovered in the study. The immune system attached a ubiquitin-like protein (marked with black dots and white arrows) to the tails of the phages, thus preventing them from infecting additional bacterial cells

to the tail of viruses

Weizmann Institute of Science scientists have discovered a bacterial immune system that "neuters" the tails of viruses. The new system is based on a protein previously discovered by Nobel laureates Avraham Hershko and Aharon Chachanover
Anabina under the microscope. The blue bacteria inspired the research

Bacteria against mutants

Weizmann Institute of Science scientists made bacterial cells mimic processes characteristic of multicellular organisms, and discovered a possible defense mechanism against cancer
The image illustrates the complex interactions described in your summary, and shows the complex choices that bacteriophages make between aggression and dormancy within their bacterial hosts, which are influenced by environmental cues and the health of the host. This represents the sophisticated mechanisms at work in bacterial and viral interactions as revealed by the study. Credit: The Science website via DALEE

How do viruses decide whether to stay friendly?

This is how the decision-making mechanism of viruses works
The experimental setup: microfluidic channels with a diameter of 1 micron in which E. coli bacteria were grown for several generations using a variety of fluorescent markers. These markers make it possible to follow important events in the bacterium's life cycle at the single cell level

How does a bacterium know it's time?

on the cellular division plan
The internal structure of an animal cell. Illustration: depositphotos.com

On bacteria and economy - the National Science Foundation

An examination of known growth laws that were discovered recently, led to the discovery of new growth laws
A specific and particularly successful phage named PASA16 discovered by the Israeli center treated 16 patients, most of them severe, and it demonstrates the high potential effectiveness of treatment in dealing with challenging and antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. Photography: Ronen Hazan

Innovative treatment with phages in antibiotic-resistant infections has over 80% success rate in Pseudomonas infections

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A new international study on treatment using the PASA16 phage (a virus that kills only bacteria), showed a success rate of over 80% and gives hope for a beneficial treatment for resistant infections
Bacterial cells before phage infection (left) and after (right). The virus replicates itself inside them and leads to the explosion of the cells and the spilling of their contents (in red - the bacterial DNA spilled from the cell)

Survive with 0% battery: an immune system that drains the cell of energy has been discovered

The new system was discovered in bacteria - but is also used in corals, bees and others
From the right: Dr. Yara Oppenheimer-Shanan and Dr. Tamir Klein. The race to the top

The bacteria that climbed a tall tree

Microglial cells (in green) in the hippocampus region of the brain of an adult mouse, forming contact points with a new neuron (in red)

The biology of depression

Degeneration of the cells of the immune system in the brain may be the biological cause of depression, and there may be substances that can restore these cells - and be antidepressants
Particles filtered using a cyclonic air sampler for 120 minutes on a dusty day in the streets

About dust storms and windy bacteria

Bacteria that are carried in the air for great distances on particles land in part on the ground while they are alive - and ready to multiply
In the research it was discovered that the protein that makes up the shoton does not have one fixed form, but can exist in at least 11 states. Photo by CDC on Unsplash

And even so, the bacterium moves and moves

For many years, researchers from all over the world have debated the question: how do bacteria move? A new international study sheds light on the movement mechanism of those microscopic creatures, through a reexamination of the proteins that make them up
Micro robots fight bacteria inside the body. Image from a virtual reality simulation. Image: depositphotos.com

Micro-robots swim in the lungs and kill bacteria

Nanotechnology engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed tiny robots - micro-robots, in their full name - that are able to swim inside the lungs, reach the bacteria that cause pneumonia, kill them and reverse the damage they do to the body
Schematic diagram of the bacterial operon (top) versus the eukaryotic transferron (bottom). According to the researchers, instead of "beads on a string" a kind of genetic "stroke-na" game developed during evolution that allows using the same "letters" - that is, messenger RNA molecules originating from genes located on different chromosomes - to create different "words", i.e. different transferrons

make from an elephant bacterium

How did evolution overcome the lack of order in the storage of genetic information in the transition from bacteria to more developed creatures?
Mice in a smoking friendly bar. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The smoking gun of the link between smoking cessation and obesity: gut bacteria

Nicotine and other compounds found in cigarettes penetrate the intestine through the bloodstream and change the composition of the intestinal bacteria and their products
Bacteriophages attack bacteria. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The common fight of bacteria and plants against viruses

A defense mechanism discovered in bacteria may make it possible to improve the resistance of agricultural crops to pests
vortex. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Vortex of one atom

The institute's scientists and their research partners from the Technion and Tel Aviv University have for the first time created mixed beams of individual atoms
Intestinal bacteria. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The wonders of the microbiome

The intestinal bacteria have an effect on chronic diseases such as: diabetes, obesity and even mental illnesses. Dr. Omri Koren talks about the research focused on the microbiome
Streptococcus bacteria. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Substances that allow the body to eliminate the predatory bacteria completely

Treating the host and not the bacteria is a breakthrough for the development of innovative and effective treatments that do not cause the development of resistance to antibiotics
The Evaporative Preserver SUV. Image: NASA

Mars and beyond: How scientists are preventing Earth's bacteria from contaminating other planets

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And what is the connection with the Genesis mission that crashed on the moon? For 50 years, government organizations adhered to the accepted rules and laws for the self-defense of the solar system against terrestrial pollution. Now they are joined by an increasing number of space missions
Salmonella bacteria (bright green) inside macrophages (yellow-brown) of a mouse. Dr. Roy Avraham, Weizmann Institute

Salmonella melons

This is how bacteria turn the cells of the immune system into an all-inclusive hotel: bacteria swallowed by macrophages sometimes manage not only to survive but even thrive inside them, as if they were incubators that help spread
Graphene to destroy drug-resistant bacteria. From Scientific Research, Rice University

Graphene to destroy drug-resistant bacteria

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Graphene shell helps particles destroy drug-resistant bacteria in wastewater treated in dedicated facilities
The surface of Venus and its atmosphere, where phosphines are at cloud level. Figure: ESO

Has a chemical marker for the possibility of life on the surface of Venus been discovered?

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Astronomers have discovered a rare element - phosphine - in the clouds of the planet Venus. On Earth, this gas is only produced in industry or it is emitted by bacteria living in an oxygen-limited environment
A bacteriophage (upper right) penetrates a bacterial cell (center of the picture). Bacteria have highly sophisticated immune systems specially prepared to fight viruses

Antivirals discovered in bacteria may be used as drugs for viral diseases

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These days, the ability of these substances to fight viruses that harm humans, including the flu and corona viruses, is being tested
Rice University students study the structure and function of an electron-stealing protein

Beneath the sea, one virus takes over the world's most common organism

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Bacteria (in green) establish a home in cancer cells and settle comfortably in the cell nucleus area. Source: Weizmann Institute

Cell within a cell: the bacteria that live inside cancerous tumors

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Protein nanowires (greenish) derived from the bacterium Geobacter (background) are between electrodes (gold) creating a bioelectronic detector used to detect biomolecules (red). [Courtesy: UMass Amherst/Yao lab]

"From bacterial proteins to ammonia detectors"

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Consequences of Justinian's plague. Illustration: From a study by Dr. Lee Mordechai from the Hebrew University

New research reveals that Justinian's plague did not contribute to the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Islam

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Prof. Giuseppe Fellini from the University of Bologna (right) and Prof. Beaz Pokroi from the Technion. Photo: Technion spokespeople

Bacteria in space

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The researchers mapped the different versions of circular nucleotide systems

Which is good for bacteria

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Figure - on the left: the atomic structure of the protein segment that forms the biofilm fibers in E. coli and Salmonella. This structure is very similar to the structures of amyloid fibers associated with Alzheimer's disease, and this structural similarity led to the idea of ​​damaging the bacterial biofilm fibers using the substances developed against Alzheimer's fibers. Above (in black and white): images taken with an electron microscope. On the left are visible fibers that are formed by the bacterial protein and are used to build the biofilm; On the right is shown the damage to fiber formation as a result of the addition of the substance that opens Alzheimer's fibers (ANK6) Below (in black-red): 6D images taken with a confocal microscope after red fluorescent staining of the bacterial biofilm. Left: high density of biofilm; Right: a significant decrease in the amount of biofilm following the addition of the substance ANKXNUMX.

Scientists at the Technion succeeded in damaging the defense mechanism of salmonella bacteria using substances originally developed against Alzheimer's disease

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Disease at first glance: when a cell of the immune system (macrophage, in blue) meets a bacterium (in red), what happens in the first 48-24 hours is crucial

An algorithm that may predict the chance of contracting tuberculosis

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Schematic of bacterial factories that consume carbon dioxide/water/nitrogen/oxygen and emit gasoline/bio-fuel/bio-plastic/fertilizers when exposed to sunlight [image from the article describing the study]

Nano-creatures that consume light and carbon dioxide and produce plastic and fuel

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germs. Illustration: shutterstock

MeMed has been recognized as a "technological pioneer" by the World Economic Forum

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A spider spins webs. Photo: shutterstock

Bacteria will be able to produce proteins for use in space

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Sulfur-loving bacteria attack algal cells of the species Emiliania huxleyi Source, Vardy. Weizmann Institute

How do sulfur-loving bacteria contribute to the rapid decline of algal blooms in the ocean?

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Antibiotic resistant bacteria. Illustration: shutterstock

Antibiotic resistant genes

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BMW hydrogen powered car. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Researchers from three faculties at the Technion have developed technology to produce electricity and hydrogen from living bacteria

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The streptococcus bacteria attacks the throat tissue. Photo: Shutterstock

An adhesion protein produced from a harmful bacterium

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Intestines. Filamentous bacteria in the intestinal cavity of a mouse as seen under an electron microscope. Courtesy of the Weizmann Institute.

Between genetics and lifestyle: what determines the composition of bacteria in our body?

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Viruses (seen in the picture as small circles) attack bacteria. Sophisticated immune systems. Source: Weizmann Institute magazine.

Ten bacterial defense mechanisms discovered: the genetic editing toolbox expands

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Illustration: pixabay.

breathe easy

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Ribosome imaging. Source: 2014, Wong et al, CC-BY 4.0 license.

The protein that anesthetizes the bacteria

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The lands in the arctic circle have been frozen for thousands and sometimes even hundreds of thousands of years. Photo: NASA.

When the ground disappears under your feet

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