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Each person carries about 100 trillion bacterial cells in their digestive tract, belonging to several thousand species, this is called the microbiome. It is believed to be involved in the development of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, to trigger diabetes, to be responsible for obesity, and even for neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, but also for depression and autistic disorders. Scientists from the Universities of Würzburg and Marburg have succeeded for the first time in demonstrating experimentally that bacterial metabolites can increase the cytotoxic activity of certain immune cells and thus positively influencing the efficacy of tumor therapies. Ideally, the bacterial species composition of the microbiome could be used to monitor its influence on the success of therapy. It is the short-chain fatty acids, butyrate and, in particular, pentanoate, that are able to increase the cytotoxic activity of CD8 T cells. Their study shows that treatment with the fatty acid pentanoate increased the ability of tumor-specific T cells to fight solid tumor models. Furthermore, the same effect was observed with CAR-T based treatment.

Tiny filaments and tubes made of a form of iron oxide, or rust, formed by the microbes were found encased in layers of quartz that experts have determined to be between 3.77 billion and 4.28 billion years old, according to the study published in the journal Nature.

On 13 January 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report on the case of a 70-year-old Nevada woman who died in September 2016 after developing a bacterial infection that was resistant to 26 different antibiotics

Defects in the body’s regulatory T cells cause inflammation and autoimmune disease by altering the type of bacteria living in the gut, researchers have discovered. The study suggests that replacing the missing gut bacteria, or restoring a key metabolite called inosine, could help treat children with a rare and often fatal autoimmune disease called IPEX syndrome.

Compounds secreted by some Escherichia coli bacteria are able to inhibit the growth of multiresistant Staphylococcus Aureus. If the stake of this discovery is great, purifying these substances is for the moment a real challenge.

The growing antibiotic resistance of the bacteria gives a new sense of urgency to the problem as world leaders met at the UN for the first summit on superbugs.

Historical. A possible turning point.

These are the words health researchers are using to describe a declaration passed Wednesday by the U.N. General Assembly aiming to slow down the spread of superbugs — bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics.

In a creative stroke inspired by Hollywood wizardry, scientists have designed a simple way to observe how bacteria move as they become impervious to drugs

A second patient carrying the antibiotic-resistant “superbug” has been identified in New York, one month after a woman carrying the gene was discovered in Pennsylvania.

All cells must find a way to acquire trace metals. Bacteria and plants scavenge iron, for instance, by synthesizing and releasing iron-chelating compounds called siderophores. Ghssein et al. describe three enzymes in Staphylococcus aureus that are responsible for the biosynthesis of another type of metallophore (see the Perspective by Nolan). Metabolomics and a range of biochemical assays show that this compound, named staphylopine, is involved in the uptake of a range of metals, depending on the growth environment. The genes required for staphylopine biosynthesis are conserved across a number of pathogenic bacteria and are similar to those for a broad-spectrum metallophore produced by plants.

Bacteria are environmentally resilient and can be engineered to sense various biomolecules. Mimee et al. combined biosensor bacteria with a miniaturized wireless readout capsule to produce a minimally invasive device capable of in vivo biosensing in harsh, difficult-to-access environments (see the Perspective by Gibson and Burgell). The device successfully measured gastrointestinal bleeding in pigs.

There is growing evidence showing a connection between Parkinson’s disease — a neurodegenerative condition — and the composition of the microbiome of the gut. A new study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham shows that Parkinson’s disease, and medications to treat Parkinson’s, have distinct effects on the composition of the trillions of bacteria that make up the gut microbiome.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the John Innes Centre (JIC) discovered a new member of the Streptomyces bacteria family, isolated from the African fungus-growing plant-ant Tetraponera penzigi. They have named the new species Streptomyces formicae and the antibiotics formicamycins, after the Latin formica, meaning ant.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-02-antibiotic-bacteria-kenyan-ant-mrsa.html#jCp

A new diagnostic test identifies the heart attack risk of a patient just by detecting gut bacteria. The patient is taken a blood test which then confirms if heart attack is possible within 30 days up to 7 years in the future. The test is currently being used in US hospitals to easily predict coronary risks of all patients admitted in the ER.

Here, the authors show that a class of antimicrobial agents, termed ‘structurally nanoengineered antimicrobial peptide polymers’ (SNAPPs) exhibit sub-μM activity against all Gram-negative bacteria tested, including ESKAPE and colistin-resistant and MDR (CMDR) pathogens, while demonstrating low toxicity.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have developed a strategy to overcome a key defense that drug-resistant bacteria use to fend off antibiotic attack.

Microbiologists have discovered that the Cyanophage N1 virus carries a DNA sequence -- a CRISPR -- that is generally used by bacteria to fight off viral infection. The virus appears to use the stolen bits of immune system DNA to highjack their hosts' immune response.

A newly discovered mechanism helps explain how antibiotics change the gut microbiota, increasing nutrients that benefit the growth of pathogens, like Salmonella.

A drug-resistant "superbug" that doctors have been dreading has shown up in the U.S. for the first time, researchers reported Thursday.

The bacteria has genetic changes that make it resistant to a last-ditch antibiotic called colistin and while it had been seen in Europe and China, no one in the U.S. had been seen with it before.

Japanese researchers discovered and named the species, Ideonella sakaiensis, by analysing microbes living on debris of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastics they collected from soil and wastewater.