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venerdì 11 ottobre 2024
# evol: flip of the script when an entity invert code sequences
lunedì 19 agosto 2024
# gst: apropos of 'normal' (jazzy?) codes, bacteria encode hidden, free-floating genes outside their genome.
giovedì 30 novembre 2023
# gene: bacteria and archaea CRISPR everywhere in nature
lunedì 20 novembre 2023
# gst: collective patterns generated by capillary surfers.
venerdì 18 agosto 2023
# gst: emergence of self-organizing zigzag patterns among (magnetic) particles suspended in a liquid
domenica 9 gennaio 2022
# ecol: mycological jazz
venerdì 7 gennaio 2022
# evol: viruses as a facilitator / driver of horizontal gene transfer among eukaryotes
sabato 25 settembre 2021
# gst: ️apropos of spontaneous active matter, the active droploids.
venerdì 26 marzo 2021
# evol: ancient photosynthesis could be as old as life itself
domenica 25 ottobre 2020
# gst: NikS, a small RNA molecule uses a sort of 'bet-hedging' strategy to survive and infect
sabato 11 aprile 2020
# gst: ab.normal (fuzzy, bizarre) Nature; apparently, ancient bacterial parasites could have used CRISPR to self-defense and 'interference' for Ma ...
sabato 29 febbraio 2020
# life: Black Death way revisited, the hypothesis, by Parag.
mercoledì 6 novembre 2019
# behav: 'run and tumble' behavior (among bacteria)
lunedì 8 aprile 2019
# epidem: silent invasions, the case of Candida auris.
<< Bacteria are rebelling >>
<< The germ, a fungus called Candida auris, preys on people with weakened immune systems, and it is quietly spreading across the globe. >>
Matt Richtel, Andrew Jacobs. DEADLY GERMS, LOST CURES. A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy. The rise of Candida auris embodies a serious and growing public health threat: drug-resistant germs. NYT. April 6, 2019.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/health/drug-resistant-candida-auris.html
<< The recent rate of emergence of pathogenic fungi that are resistant to the limited number of commonly used antifungal agents is unprecedented. The azoles, for example, are used not only for human and animal health care and crop protection but also in antifouling coatings and timber preservation. The ubiquity and multiple uses of azoles have hastened the independent evolution of resistance in many environments. One consequence is an increasing risk in human health care from naturally occurring opportunistic fungal pathogens that have acquired resistance to this broad class of chemicals. >>
Matthew C. Fisher, Nichola J. Hawkins, et al. Worldwide emergence of resistance to antifungal drugs challenges human health and food security. Science May 18, 2018
Vol. 360, Issue 6390, pp. 739-742 doi: 10.1126/science.aap7999
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6390/739
FonT
Per nostra - di noi umani - fortuna oggi si puo' analizzare, studiare ed eventualmente manipolare in modo fine il codice genetico di virus, batteri, etc. grazie alla tecnica CRISPR, tecnica a suo tempo (e per molto tempo) considerata di nessuna importanza da entita' di alta- altissima luminescenza ...
Eric S. Lander. The Heroes of CRISPR.
Cell. 14 January 2016, Vol.164(1): 18–28, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.041
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867415017055
Also: "CRISPR"
venerdì 29 marzo 2019
# gst: programmed cell death (apoptosis) also in algae
<< bacteria that live on single-cellular algae can cause programmed cell death. "It is the first documentation of true apoptosis via bacterial pathogens in microorganisms like algae," >> Rebecca Case.
Study shows first evidence bacterial-induced apoptosis in algae. University of Alberta. Mar 21, 2019.
https://m.phys.org/news/2019-03-evidence-bacterial-induced-apoptosis-algae.html
Anna R. Bramucci, Rebecca J. Case.
Phaeobacter inhibens induces apoptosis-like programmed cell death in calcifying Emiliania huxleyi. Scientific Reports. Volume 9, Article number: 5215 (2019) March 21.
sabato 15 dicembre 2018
# gst: the complex world of Bacteria; collective oscillations via discontinuous transitions, chemical quorum sensing and brainlike bursts of electricity to communicate.
<< collective oscillations in cell populations can emerge suddenly with nonzero amplitude via a discontinuous transition. >>
Rosa Martinez-Corral, Jintao Liu, et al. Bistable emergence of oscillations in growing Bacillus subtilis biofilms. PNAS Sep 4, 2018; 115 (36) E8333-E8340. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1805004115
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/36/E8333
<< As in all communities, cohabiting bacteria need ways to exchange messages. Biologists have known for decades that bacteria can use chemical cues to coordinate their behavior. >>
AA << are now finding that bacteria in biofilms can also talk to one another electrically. Biofilms appear to use electrically charged particles to organize and synchronize activities across large expanses. This electrical exchange has proved so powerful that biofilms even use it to recruit new bacteria from their surroundings, and to negotiate with neighboring biofilms for their mutual well-being. >>
<< Step by step we find that all the things we think bacteria don’t do, they actually do, [..] It’s displacing us from our pedestal. >> Ned Wingreen.
Gabriel Popkin. Bacteria Use Brainlike Bursts of Electricity to Communicate. With electrical signals, cells can organize themselves into complex societies and negotiate with other colonies. Sep 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/QuantaMagazine/status/1071417372500783104
https://www.quantamagazine.org/bacteria-use-brainlike-bursts-of-electricity-to-communicate-20170905/
Also
Gurol M. Suel publ.
http://labs.biology.ucsd.edu/suel/index.html
FonT
intrigante qui l'idea di una Intelligenza Artificiale che, dalle relativamente comode e veloci osservazioni sull'evoluzione di colonie batteriche sotto differenti condizioni, sia in grado di circoscrivere pattern comportamentali di interesse per la modellizzazione (e previsione) di comunita' altre ...
giovedì 25 ottobre 2018
# tech: it repels everything with some beneficial exceptions
<< Researchers at McMaster University have solved a vexing problem by engineering surface coatings that can repel everything, such as bacteria, viruses and living cells, but can be modified to permit beneficial exceptions. >>
Researchers design "smart" surfaces to repel everything but targeted beneficial exceptions. McMaster University. Oct 24, 2018
https://phys.org/news/2018-10-smart-surfaces-repel-beneficial-exceptions.html
Tohid Didar. Researchers design "smart" surfaces, creating promise for safer implants and more accurate diagnostic tests. Oct 24, 2018.
venerdì 16 febbraio 2018
# epidem: they fall from the sky
<< Aerosolization of soil-dust and organic aggregates in sea spray facilitates the long-range transport of bacteria, and likely viruses across the free atmosphere. >>
The << results provide an explanation for enigmatic observations that viruses with very high genetic identity can be found in very distant and different environments. >>
Isabel Reche, Gaetano D’Orta, et al. Deposition rates of viruses and bacteria above the atmospheric boundary layer. The ISME Journal.
doi: 10.1038/s41396-017-0042-4. Jan 29, 2018.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41396-017-0042-4
University of British Columbia. Viruses - lots of them - are falling from the sky. Feb 6, 2018.
https://m.phys.org/news/2018-02-viruseslots-themare-falling-sky.html
giovedì 19 ottobre 2017
# gst: cooperating vs self-serving bacteria in transitional (noise) scenarios
AA << study a well-mixed, finite population consisting of two strains competing for the limited resources provided by an environment that randomly switches between states of abundance and scarcity >>
AA << consider two scenarios—one of pure resource competition, and one in which one strain provides a public good—and investigate how environmental randomness (external noise) coupled to demographic (internal) noise determines the population’s fixation properties and size distribution >>
Karl Wienand, Erwin Frey, Mauro Mobilia. Evolution of a Fluctuating Population in a Randomly Switching Environment. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 158301 Oct 11, 2017
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.158301
AA << showed that a randomly changing environment can create a level playing field between self-serving bacteria and bacteria that work together >>
<< Cooperating bacterial populations are more likely to survive in changing habitats >>
Fluctuating environments can help cooperating bacteria. Oct 12, 2017
https://m.phys.org/news/2017-10-fluctuating-environments-cooperating-bacteria.html
lunedì 31 luglio 2017
# s-ecol: asymmetric cooperation during symbiosis (among Polynucleobacteria)
<< Relationships where two organisms depend on each other, known as symbiosis, evoke images of partnership and cooperation. But a new study in Nature Ecology and Evolution shows that, when it comes to certain microorganisms, symbiotic partners are actually being held "hostage" >>
Hostage situation or harmony? Researchers rethink symbiosis. July 27, 2017
https://m.phys.org/news/2017-07-hostage-situation-harmony-rethink-symbiosis.html
Vittorio Boscaro, Martin Kolisko, et al. Parallel genome reduction in symbionts descended from closely related free-living bacteria. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1, 1160–1167 (2017) doi: 10.1038/s41559-017-0237-0 Publ. July 21, 2017