Microbiologists have long known that ancient, inactive viruses known as cryptic prophages can insert their genetic material into bacterial DNA. These genetic fragments allow bacteria to use ...

Antibiotics can destroy many types of bacteria, but increasingly, bacterial pathogens are gaining resistance to many commonly used types. As the threat of antibiotic resistance looms large, ...

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

Scientists at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) are developing a biochemical process that uses a protein molecule to disrupt the process by which bacteria become virulent, a ...

Queensland researchers have discovered that a mutation allows some E. coli bacteria to cause severe disease in people while other bacteria are harmless, a finding that could help to combat antibiotic ...

Cellulose polymers are being produced by bacterial fermentation of organic matter, and used to create strong bioplastics. Researchers in Japan are now looking to improve polymer production levels by ...

A team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine is gaining ground in their search for solutions to the global problem of bacterial antibiotic resistance, which was responsible for nearly 1.3 ...

Disinfectants such as bleach, acids, phenols, and alcohols are important weapons against infectious diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, as the coronavirus ran rampant across the world, experts ...

The microbial toxin colibactin has just the right shape to snuggle up to DNA — but its embrace is unfortunately more cancerous than cozy. Colibactin is produced by bacteria in the gut and causes ...