KNOW A SCIENTIST
Dr. J. ROBIN WARREN, Australian pathologist, shared Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine, together with Barry Marshall for re-discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease during 2005. Dr. J.R. Warren proved that the bacterium is the cause of stomach ulcers and helped to develop a convenient diagnostic test (C-urea breath-test) for detecting this bacterium in ulcer patients.
Bacteria Communicate to Help Each Other Resist Antibiotics
New research from Western University unravels a novel means of communication that allows bacteria such as Burkholderia cenocepacia (B. cenocepacia) to resist antibiotic treatment. B. cenocepacia is an environmental bacterium that causes devastating infections in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) or with compromised immune systems. Dr. Miguel Valvano and first author Omar El-Halfawy, PhD candidate, show that the more antibiotic resistant cells within a bacterial population produce and share small molecules with less resistant cells, making them more resistant to antibiotic killing. These small molecules, which are derived from modified amino acids (the building blocks used to make proteins), protect not only the more sensitive cells of B. cenocepacia but also other bacteria including a highly prevalent CF pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and E. coli. The research is published in PLOS ONE.
Artist's 3-D rendering of bacteria (stock image)
Image Credit: © fotoliaxrender / Fotolia
Source: www.Sciencedaily.com
Bacteria Eat Pollution and Generate Electricity
Bacteria with tiny wire-like appendages called nanowires not only digest toxic waste – including PCBs and chemical solvents – they produce electricity while they’re at it. One type in particular, called Shewanella, is a deep-sea bacteria that grows these oxygen-seeking nanowires when placed in low-oxygen environments. Researchers discovered that when the microbes’ nanowires are pricked with platinum electrodes, they can carry a current. If these capabilities can be harnessed effectively, they could one day be used in sewage treatment plants to simultaneously digest waste and power the facilities.
LIGHTNING BUGS The nanowircs this doop-sea bacterium grows to search for food can carry electrons too, making it a candidate for applications in biotechnology
(Image Credit: Science news
Source: http://webecoist.momtastic.com/