microbiology

Altering the rate of respiration in mitochondria changes how fast neurons grow, making mouse neurons grow more like human ones and vice versa, a study finds.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae with pathogenic genes replaced by biofilm-degrading ones enhance survival in a mouse model of ventilator-associated pneumonia.

A method for culturing the infectious stage of the Plasmodium lifecycle could increase malaria vaccine production efficiency by tenfold, study authors say.

By engineering structures out of DNA, scientists could potentially prevent larger viruses, like coronaviruses and influenza viruses, from interacting with cells.

Female postmortem brains contain more S-nitrosylated C3 proteins, likely linked to menopause, which instruct immune cells to kill neuronal synapses.

The expansion of mucus-degraders in the mouse gut—possibly due to poor nutrition—thins the colon’s mucus layer and may weaken defenses against blood-infecting microbes.

The bacterium produces a particular protein that allows it to sneak past the human immune system even while triggering inflammation.

The University of Miami researcher studies how a mysterious group of supersized viruses infects and influences the evolution of their hosts.

Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacterium that causes chlamydia, hides from the immune system by cloaking itself in the host cell’s membrane then modifying the membrane’s protein composition.

A neural pathway between the gut and the brain led to the release of dopamine when the mice ran on a wheel or treadmill, but only in the presence of a robust microbiome. 

A previously unknown kind of ribosome is responsible for folding sperm proteins, which decay before fertilization if prepared by other ribosomes.

The HIV protein Nef can cause long-term genetic changes that lead to hyperreactive immune cells, according to research in human cells and mice. 

The “tripledemic” shines a spotlight on viral interference, in which one infection can block another.

Redondoviruses, which have been associated with cases of periodontitis and other diseases, turn out to live inside the amoeba Entamoeba gingivalis.