Scientists have long searched for the answer to the question of how bacteria decide to cease normal function and form a spore, which in essence means death for the microbe. Bioengineering researchers ...

Bacterial spores store information about the individual growth history of their progenitor cells, thus retaining a "memory" that links the different stages of the bacterial life cycle. The spore ...

A team of bioengineering researchers has decoded the mechanism that bacteria use to make life-or-death decisions during extremely tough times. The fundamental find could have implications for ...

A team led by Rice University bioengineering researchers has decoded the mechanism that some bacteria use to make life-or-death decisions during extremely tough times. Deciphering how bacteria respond ...

A tiny bacterium, Tersicoccus phoenicis, is changing how scientists view cleanliness in secure areas. This microbe survives ...

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 ...

Endosymbiotic relationships—in which one organism lives within another—are striking examples of mutualism, and can often significantly shape the biology of the participant species. In new findings ...