A combination of molecular dynamics simulations and X-ray diffraction data has been used to construct more realistic models of proteins and to provide new insights into their interactions with other proteins and biomolecules.
Simulations and experiments on systems containing two different populations of microorganisms show that interactions that benefit at least one of the populations can lead to communities with stable compositions, and that strong cooperation between two populations can lead to communities in which both populations are mixed together.
The nematode worm C. elegans consumes familiar bacterial species more rapidly than it does novel ones, and this preference for familiarity is mediated by a pair of serotonergic neurons.
Kentaro Yoshida, Verena J Schuenemann ... Hernán A Burbano
The strain of Phytophthora infestans that caused the Great Famine in the late 1840s was caused by a single genotype that is distinct from, but closely related to, the most prevalent modern genotype.
A combination of phylogenetic and biochemical analyses suggest that some unexpected variations in the synthesis of isoprenoids may be widespread across all three domains of life.
The major evolutionary routes to drug resistance in Salmonella Typhi are associated with fitness benefits, not fitness costs, implying that prudent antimicrobial use will have no effect as a public health intervention in controlling typhoid fever.
Bridget R Kulasekara, Cassandra Kamischke ... Samuel I Miller
Real time measurements of c-di-GMP in individual cells reveal an unexpected mechanism by which the chemotaxis machinery controls c-di-GMP heterogeneity, thereby regulating flagellar-based motility.
Activation of CaMKII holoenzymes triggers the exchange of subunits with other holoenzymes, including unactivated ones, enabling the calcium-independent phosphorylation and activation of new subunits.
