Environmental filtering of bacterial functional diversity along an aridity gradient SUMMARY: Genes of soil bacteria sampled in the Tibetan Plateau showed that as the environment got drier, the less diverse the genes were. Researchers wanted to compare bacterial gene diversity with the already-known diversity of genes in large animals in various environments. There were less… Continue reading How Bacteria Genes Change with Dryness
Tag: mutations
Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in People and Chickens in Ghana
Detection and Characterization of ESBL-Producing Escherichia coli From Humans and Poultry in Ghana SUMMARY: Farm animals (for food) in African countries have high levels of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. Coli. Beta-lactamase is an enzyme produced by certain types of bacteria that disable antibiotics. Researchers looked at fecal samples from children in rural Ghana and samples… Continue reading Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in People and Chickens in Ghana
Understanding the Spanish Flu Virus
Characterization of the Reconstructed 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic Virus (NOT OPEN ACCESS) SUMMARY: Influenza viruses require a proteolytic enzyme (an enzyme that can cut or cleave proteins), like trypsin, in order to activate a surface protein that allows them to attach/infect our cells. Since viruses can only replicate inside cells, having this proteolytic enzyme is… Continue reading Understanding the Spanish Flu Virus
Cholera Biodiversity in Humans
Vibrio Cholerae genomic diversity within and between patients SUMMARY: Researchers looked at 122 samples of cholera in 8 different cholera patients; five were from Bangladesh and three were from Haiti. They found that the cholera bacteria genomes were different in water versus the human gut; one particularly interesting mutation was that the bacteria stopped forming… Continue reading Cholera Biodiversity in Humans