E. coli divides faster than it can replicate its genome, while simultaneously expressing its genes. Scientists recently revealed the intricate molecular coordination that makes this possible. “It’s as ...

DNA replication is a fundamental process essential for bacterial growth and survival. Initiation begins at the chromosomal origin (oriC), where the conserved initiator protein DnaA assembles into an ...

Transposons are critical drivers of bacterial evolution that have been studied for many decades and have been the subject of Nobel Prize winning research. Now, researchers from Cornell University have ...

Common ocean bacteria struggle to divide when conditions change, reshaping how warming seas affect ecosystems.

Every time a cell divides, it must copy its entire genome so that each daughter cell inherits a complete set of DNA. During that process, enzymes known as polymerases race along the DNA to copy its ...

Deep in coastal mangroves and even inside our own mouths, biologists are finding that DNA does not always sit in a simple loop at the cell’s center. A giant microbe called Thiovulum imperiosus has now ...

Red arrows indicate the DNA repair pathways that are known to aid bacterial survival as persisters and gamblers in the presence of fluoroquinolones. Blue color arrow indicates downregulation, while ...

SAR11 bacteria dominate the world’s oceans by being incredibly efficient, shedding genes to survive in nutrient-poor waters.

A new study finds that a trait helping a marine bacterium survive and flourish today may ultimately become its Achilles Heel as ocean conditions continue to shift.