New research reveals how nitrogen-fixing bacteria sense iron – an essential but deadly micronutrient. The findings are an important piece in the puzzle of how life deals with iron, a nutrient it cannot do without but one it must also avoid having in excess.
Read moreResearchers have engineered a plasmid to remove an antibiotic resistance gene from the Enterococcus faecalis bacterium, an accomplishment that could lead to new methods for combating antibiotic resistance.
Read moreScientists have discovered how a parasite responsible for spreading a serious tropical disease protects itself from starvation once inside its human host. The findings provide a new understanding of the metabolism of the Leishmania parasite and this new knowledge could potentially be used in its eradication.
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Scientists obtained a total of 733 pathogen isolates from 171 individual wild Bottlenose dolphins in Florida and found that the overall prevalence of resistance to at least one antibiotic for the 733 isolates was 88.2%. Resistance was highest to erythromycin, followed by ampicillin. It is likely that these isolates from dolphins originated from a source where antibiotics are regularly used, potentially entering the marine environment through human activities or discharges from terrestrial sources.
Domestic cats, like many other mammals, use smelly secretions from anal sacs to mark territory and communicate with other animals. A new study shows that many odiferous compounds from a male cat are actually made not by the cat, but by a community of bacteria living in the anal sacs.
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