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Enlarge Image Buried gem. Researchers have uncovered "fossil virus" inside the zebra finch genome. Credit: Peripitus/Wikimedia The hepatitis B virus and its ilk have been around for a long, long time. A newly uncovered "viral fossil" buried deep in the genome of the zebra finch indicates that the hepatitis B family of viruses—known as hepadnaviruses—originated at least 19 million years ago. Together with recent findings on other viruses, the work suggests that all viruses may be much older than thought. No one knows exactly where or when viruses originated. They don't leave fossils, so scientists have begun scouring the...

Doctors frequently misuse antibiotics when treating patients hospitalized with respiratory tract infections (RTIs), according to a study to be published in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. The study, which tracked patients in two Pennsylvania hospitals, found that doctors often use antibiotics to treat patients whose infections are known to be caused by viruses. The findings are alarming because antibiotics are not effective against viruses, and antibiotic overuse has been linked to the development of resistant bacterial strains. "[T]hese data demonstrate at least one area where antibiotics are commonly used in hospitalized patients without clear reason," write...

After five years of lying low, Legionnaire's disease - a potentially fatal lung infection - returned to the small city of Alcoi, Spain, on July 21, 2009. > This microbe lives in fresh water nearly everywhere, and it becomes a problem only when inhaled as a fine spray or aerosol. (Legionella is harmless if you drink it.) Outbreaks are usually traced back to man-made supplies of warm water, such as water cooling systems, fountains, hot tubs, even showers. > Investigations into Legionella outbreaks are difficult, according to Dr. Lauri Hicks, a medical epidemiologist in the respiratory-diseases branch of the Centers...

A biotech company plans to announce Tuesday that it has won a patent on a genetically altered bacterium that converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into ingredients of diesel fuel, a step that could provide a new pathway for making ethanol or a diesel replacement that skips several cumbersome and expensive steps in existing methods. The bacterium’s product, which it secretes like sweat, is a class of hydrocarbon molecules called alkanes that are chemically indistinguishable from the ones made in oil refineries. The organism can grow in bodies of water unfit for drinking or on land that is useless for farming,...

Researchers discover evidence for a new type of chlorophyll in cyanobacteria that can absorb near-infrared lightResearchers may have found a new form of chlorophyll, the pigment that plants, algae and cyanobacteria use to obtain energy from light through photosynthesis. Preliminary findings published August 19 in Science suggest that the newly discovered molecule, dubbed chlorophyll f, has a distinct chemical composition when compared with the four known forms of chlorophyll and can absorb more near-infrared light than is typical for the photosynthetic pigments. Chlorophyll f, which was extracted from cultures of cyanobacteria and other oxygenic microorganisms, may allow certain photosynthetic life...

Scientists have determined that Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium that causes peptic ulcers and some forms of stomach cancer, requires the vitamin B6 to establish and maintain chronic infection, according to research published this week in the online journal mBio™. This finding, along with the identification of the enzyme the microbe requires to utilize the vitamin, could lead to the development of an entirely new class of antibiotics. "Approximately half the world's population is infected with H. pylori, yet how H. pylori bacteria establish chronic infections in human hosts remains elusive. To our knowledge, this study is the first to describe...

A retired research assistant professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia died of multiple stab wounds before firefighters found in his body in the trunk of a burning car Friday. Boone County Medical Examiner Valerie Rao said after an autopsy that Jeong H. Im, 72, of Columbia was stabbed several times, but she declined to elaborate. MU police yesterday named Im as the victim. His body was found in the trunk of his burning white, 1995 Honda inside the Maryland Avenue parking garage, MU police Capt. Brian Weimer said. The case was under investigation by the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad. No...

A large part of human milk cannot be digested by babies and seems to have a purpose quite different from infant nutrition — that of influencing the composition of the bacteria in the infant’s gut. The details of this three-way relationship between mother, child and gut microbes are being worked out by three researchers at the University of California, Davis — Bruce German, Carlito Lebrilla and David Mills. They and colleagues have found that a particular strain of bacterium, a subspecies of Bifidobacterium longum, possesses a special suite of genes that enable it to thrive on the indigestible component of...

Cleaning up the environment after chemical spills could be made easier thanks to Argentinean scientists who have developed a material that encapsulates pollutant-destroying microorganisms inside it. Removing organic pollutants from water after a chemical leak or cleaning up industrial waste water remains a challenge. One solution is to use microorganisms to break up organic pollutants, however, this risks releasing foreign or genetically modified organisms into the environment. These microorganisms can rapidly grow, deplete vital nutrients and cause further damage. Now, Sara Bilmes and colleagues at the University of Bunenos Aires, have developed a material that could help break up organic pollutants...

Enlarge Image Global smarts. In this map, countries shaded purple have the highest average IQ. Those shaded dark red have the lowest IQ—and, typically, the highest incidence of infectious disease. Credit: Wikimedia Commons What can you do to make your kids smarter? Keeping them healthy might help. A new study suggests that worldwide differences in intelligence can be explained by disparities in infectious disease. The researchers found that countries most heavily affected by infectious diseases generally had the lowest average IQs. They propose that these illnesses hinder children's brain development, though their conclusion is gathering mixed reviews. The new...

Enlarge Image Fungal friend. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi produce hundreds of spores, such as the ones shown here, just outside the roots of a plant Credit: Shannon Schechter More than 80% of plant species make friends with a common fungus. In return for sugar, the fungus helps the plants extract nutrients from the soil. But rice plants, a primary food source for billions of people, don't have this special relationship—and thus they don't receive the extra boost the fungi give other plants. A new study suggests that with a little help from researchers, however, the fungus will bond with rice,...

New research published in the FASEB Journal suggests that Lactobacillus reuteri immediately affects nerves in the gut, explaining how probiotics workHere's another reason to breast feed your baby: Canadian researchers have discovered how a probiotic found in breastmilk reduces or eliminates painful cramping in the gut. In a new research report published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), these scientists use mice to show that a specific strain of Lactobacillus reuteri decreases the force of muscle contractions in the gut within minutes of exposure. This bacterium naturally occurs in the gut of many mammals and can be found in human...

For 15 years, J. Craig Venter has chased a dream: to build a genome from scratch and use it to make synthetic life. Now, he and his team at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in Rockville, Maryland, and San Diego, California, say they have realized that dream. In this week's Science Express (www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/science.1190719), they describe the stepwise creation of a bacterial chromosome and the successful transfer of it into a bacterium, where it replaced the native DNA. Powered by the synthetic genome, that microbial cell began replicating and making a new set of proteins. This is "a defining moment...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - While trying to find a DNA-based test to determine the sex of lake sturgeon, Purdue University researchers found that the sturgeon genome contains trematode genes that didn't originally belong to it and may harbor a protozoan parasite that causes a sexually transmitted disease in humans. Genetics professor Andrew DeWoody and postdoctoral associate Matthew C. Hale found the parasite and pathogen genes while analyzing DNA from the gonads of lake sturgeon, a species that is on the decline because of overfishing and pollution of its habitats. The only way to determine a lake sturgeon's sex currently is...

ANAHEIM, CA – The use of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections causes a continual and vicious cycle in which antibiotic treatment leads to the emergence and spread of resistant strains, forcing the use of additional drugs leading to further multi-drug resistance. But what if it doesn't have to be that way? In a presentation at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's annual meeting, titled "Driving backwards the evolution of antibiotic resistance," Harvard researcher Roy Kishony will discuss his recent work showing that some drug combinations can stop or even reverse the normal trend, favoring bacteria that do not...

A new kind of compound to treat hepatitis C is showing promise in early clinical trials. The treatment, being developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), was found to be very effective at lowering viral load, both in a Phase I trial published this week in Nature, and in early results of a Phase IIa trial presented at the European Association for the Study of the Liver's annual meeting in Vienna last week.Current HCV therapy is not ideal. The standard treatment is with an interferon and the antiviral agent ribavirin, but is only effective in around half of all patients and is plagued with...

A new combination treatment for malaria is as effective as the "gold standard" therapy for the disease, but only needs to be taken once a day rather than twice, The Lancet reported on Friday. The new treatment, combining pyronaridine and artesunate, was tested at seven sites in Africa and three in Southeast Asia alongside the standard drugs, artemether and lumefantrine. > Its success against malarial parasites was first found centuries ago in ancient China but was rediscovered by Chinese medical researchers in the early 1970s. >

A deadly, airborne new strain of fungus has emerged in Oregon. It has killed nearly one out of four known affected people so far and might also attack animals ranging from dogs to dolphins. And it is likely to spread, researchers now warn. The new strain known as VGIIc of the fungus Cryptococcus gattii not only targets humans but has also proven capable of infecting dogs, cats, alpacas, sheep and elk. Other strains have even infected porpoises. Although it can spread to mammals, it does not jump from animal to animal. Instead, people and other animals get it from inhaling...

Tuberculosis rates in the United States dropped more than 10 percent last year compared with 2008, the sharpest decrease ever recorded in a single year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are reporting. The 2009 rate was 3.8 cases per 100,000 people, down from 4.2 the year before, according to results from the National TB Surveillance System reported in the March 19 issue of the centers’ Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Declines were reported among people born both in the United States and abroad...

Microbes thriving in salty, alkali waters containing arsenic.It looks peaceful, but Laguna del Diamante's waters are deadly.MARÍA EUGENIA FARÍAS Argentinian investigators have found flamingos and mysterious microbes living in an alkaline lagoon nestled inside a volcano in the Andes. The organisms, exposed to arsenic and poisonous gases, could shed light on how life began on Earth, and their hardiness to extreme conditions may hold the key to new scientific applications.In 2009, a team led by María Eugenia Farías, a microbiologist at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Tucumán, Argentina, discovered living stromatolites in the Socompa and Tolar Grande...