Water is a source of concern for disseminating the bacteria Legionella pneumophila and Mycobacterium avium, which cause lung disease (legionellosis and pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterium disease, respectively). A new study has examined the presence of these microbes in tap water from residences and office buildings across the United States.

An international team has shown how the Salmonella protein RamR senses bile acids present in the gut, leading to the activation of a multidrug efflux system that helps bacterial cells to get rid of toxins. This system helps the bacteria to survive and colonize this habitat despite harsh conditions. These findings could form the basis for new therapeutic approaches aimed at combating bacterial infection.

Food safety regulations increasingly pressure growers to remove hedgerows, ponds and other natural habitats from farms to keep out pathogen-carrying wildlife and livestock. Yet, this could come at the cost of biodiversity. New research encourages the presence of dung beetles and soil bacteria at farms as they naturally suppress E. coli and other harmful pathogens before spreading to humans.

A newly discovered parasitic cycle, in which ocean bacteria keep phytoplankton on an energy-sapping treadmill of nutrient detoxification, may offer a preview of what further ocean warming will bring.

Food safety regulations increasingly pressure growers to remove hedgerows, ponds and other natural habitats from farms to keep out pathogen-carrying wildlife and livestock. Yet, this could come at the cost of biodiversity. New research encourages the presence of dung beetles and soil bacteria at farms as they naturally suppress E. coli and other harmful pathogens before spreading to humans.

As our collection of resident gut bacteria changes with age, it increasingly produces harmful metabolites that damage veins and blood vessels, driving disease, a new study suggests.

In favorable conditions, many bacteria propel themselves to food sources and other sites of interest using whip-like molecular propellers known as flagella. However, according to new research, members of the bacterial class Gammaproteobacteria eject their flagella when nutrients are scarce.

Just trace amounts of antibiotics in a spacecraft could be enough to let bacteria evolve deadly resistance on long space journeys