Do bacteria mutate randomly, or do they mutate for a purpose? Researchers have been puzzling over this conundrum for over a century. In 1943, microbiologist Salvador Luria and physicist turned ...

Cleveland Clinic researchers have discovered that bacteria inside cancerous tumors may be key to understanding why ...

Bacteria can acquire resistance to antibiotics through random mutations in their DNA that provide them with an advantage that helps them survive. Finding genetic mutations, and discovering how they ...

Antibiotics can destroy many types of bacteria, but increasingly, bacterial pathogens are gaining resistance to many commonly used types. As the threat of antibiotic resistance looms large, ...

Researchers report that phage resistance in ocean bacteria can alter growth, metabolism and sinking behavior, revealing a ...

Microbiologists have long known that ancient, inactive viruses known as cryptic prophages can insert their genetic material into bacterial DNA. These genetic fragments allow bacteria to use ...

In the 1940s, the famous Luria–Delbrück experiment showed that bacteria evolve resistance to drugs they'd never encountered thanks to a random mutational process. When you purchase through links on ...

Increased consumption of ultraprocessed foods can impact children’s gut health and immunity, leaving them more susceptible to the bacteria. As rates of colorectal cancer soar in adults younger than 50 ...

Viruses may be quietly reshaping how the ocean locks away carbon. Deep in the world’s oceans, microscopic bacteria play an outsized role in regulating Earth’s climate. These marine microbes help ...

Qi Zheng does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...