The mother's diet while breastfeeding can shape the profile of human milk oligosaccharides (HMO), a type of complex carbohydrate in the mother's milk. Changing the HMOs, which are food and fodder for healthy microbes, in turn modifies the functional abilities of the milk microbiome.

Patients using inhaled steroids to control asthma and other breathing problems may be at greater risk for developing nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) lung infections, according to new research.

Researchers have identified a novel mechanism by which periodontal disease may cause metabolic syndrome. By studying patients with metabolic syndrome, the researchers demonstrated high antibody titers against Porphyromonas gingivalis, the bacterium causing periodontal disease. In a mouse model, the researchers then showed that infection with this bacterium causes systemic insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction in skeletal muscle by altering the gut microbiome. This study shows the effect periodontal disease can have on the entire body.

Researchers have identified a novel mechanism by which bacteria form membrane vesicles, which bacteria employ to communicate with each other or to defend themselves against antibiotics. By studying mycolic acid-containing bacteria (MCB), which also includes tuberculosis-causing bacteria, the researchers demonstrated that environmental stimuli dictate the route by which the MCB form membrane vesicles. Further, their observations were consistent among various MCB. This study has implications for vaccine development as well as novel therapies.

Scientists studying the body's natural defenses against bacterial infection have identified a nutrient -- taurine -- that helps the gut recall prior infections and kill invading bacteria, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kpn). The finding could aid efforts seeking alternatives to antibiotics.

Body odor is an unpleasant smell, produced when bacteria living on the skin break down the proteins in sweat. To avoid stinking, some people apply antiperspirants that clog sweat ducts with foreign materials, such as metals, to slow perspiration. As a step toward a more natural solution, researchers have turned sweat against itself using an evaporation-based approach in which the salts in sweat create a gel-like plug.

One reason ticks spread Lyme disease so well goes back to a unique evolutionary event. Researchers discovered that an antibacterial enzyme in ticks, Dae2, protects them from bacteria found on human skin, while still allowing them to harbor Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Ticks acquired the gene for this enzyme 40 million years ago from an unknown species of ancient bacteria.

A bacterial toxin promoting tissue healing has been discovered. The compound, found in Staphylococcus aureus, does not just damage cells, but also stimulates tissue regeneration.

Understanding the skin damage caused by rubbing could lead to better topical skin treatments and help prevent the formation of new routes for viral and bacterial infection.

Bacteria are likely triggering greater melting on the Greenland ice sheet, possibly increasing the island's contribution to sea-level rise, according to scientists. That's because the microbes cause sunlight-absorbing sediment to clump together and accumulate in the meltwater streams, according to new study. The findings can be incorporated in climate models, leading to more accurate predictions of melting, scientists say.