When spore-forming bacteria, such as Bacillus or Clostridium, enter a state of starvation, they transform into a state of dormancy in order to survive. No other life form is as difficult to eliminate ...

Fungal–bacterial interactions are highly diverse and contribute to many ecosystem processes. Their emergence under common environmental stress scenarios however, remains elusive. Here we use a ...

Solving a riddle that has confounded biologists since bacterial spores - inert, sleeping bacteria - were first described more than 150 years ago, researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered ...

Bacteria go to extremes to handle hard times: They hunker down, building a fortress-like shell around their DNA and turning off all signs of life. And yet, when times improve, these dormant spores can ...

Researchers have established how clostridia bacteria emerge from spores. This could help them understand how these bacteria germinate and go on to produce the deadly toxin responsible for botulism, a ...

Solving a riddle that has confounded biologists since bacterial spores — inert, sleeping bacteria — were first described more than 150 years ago, researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered ...

Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan Medical School researchers found that calcium in the gut may help Clostridium difficile bacteria germinate. The new research shows C. diff, which forms ...

Understanding how clostridia bacteria emerge from spores, germinate and go on to produce the toxin responsible for botulism has taken a step forward thanks to scientists from the Institute of Food ...

Tapping into the unknown world of awakening dormant bacterial spores, researchers have revealed through atomic force microscopy the alterations of spore coat and germ cell wall that accompany the ...

Researchers from Harvard Medical School have discovered that the body's immune system initially detects the presence of anthrax spores by recognizing RNA molecules that coat the spores' surface. But ...