Bacteria come in all shapes and sizes -- some are straight as a rod, others twist like a corkscrew. Shape plays an important role in how bacteria infiltrate and attack cells in the body. The helical ...

A protein determines the shape of bacteria. Bacteria come in a wide variety of shapes, which are important for their fitness in their respective ecological niches. However, despite intensive research, ...

Evolution has an agenda. Organisms receive cues from the environment and adjust to better survive and thrive based on that input. When it comes to pathogenic bacteria that agenda is far from benign — ...

In the United States alone, antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria cause more than 2.8 million infections that kill more than 35,000 people per year. The issue is even greater in developing ...

Beneficial bacteria in the gut microbiome use different means to transmit from one person to another which impacts their abundance in the gut and the functions they provide, new research has found.

Researchers report that phage resistance in ocean bacteria can alter growth, metabolism and sinking behavior, revealing a ...

Microorganisms are essential to grassland soil ecosystems and play a critical role in biogeochemical cycles. Microbial communities can be classified into distinct ecological groups based on common ...

Gut microbiome differences may shape autism traits, with beneficial bacteria linked to better gut health, lower inflammation, ...