Microbe Magazine

Escherichia coli cells carry 46 genes—many previously unrecognized—that enable it to withstand exceptionally high levels of ionizing radiation, according to Michael M. Cox of the University of Wisconsin and his collaborators. These bacteria thus enco... More...

Staphylococcus aureus, which benignly inhabits ∼30% of humanity, can turn opportunistic, in which form it represents a major, growing threat to public health on par with HIV and tuberculosis. David E. Heinrichs, of the University of Western Ontario, ... More...

The high mortality in the 1918 influenza pandemic resulted not from influenza alone, but from a synergism between that virus and the respiratory disease bacterium, Streptococcus pneumoniae. Normally, different pneumococci specialize—some in colonizing the host, othe... More...

One might cynically suggest that science has better things to do than to determine which fabric smells least offensive after a good workout. But some are so sorely afflicted with body odor that their lives are severely constrained, says Chris Callewaert, of Ghent University, Belgium, who runs the... More...

The importance of commensal bacteria has been well-demonstrated. “What has been missing is a mechanistic understanding of how these bacteria can actively shape the physiology of their host,” says Thomas B. Clarke, of Imperial College London, United Kingdom. Now Clarke shows that commensal bacteri... More...

With increasing levels of community-acquired Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) reported from most of the Western world, there is great interest in understanding the origin and emergence of these epidemic lineages. Now Marc Stegger of the Statens Serum Institut in Denm... More...

Amphibians, which include frogs, toads, salamanders, and the legless caecilians, are declining faster than any other vertebrate taxon. Chytridiomycosis, caused by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, has caused more than 200 mass mortality events and a... More...