The sleeping sigma factor
Simon Ringgaard and his team have described a previously unrecognized mechanism of bacterial transcriptional regulation that is obviously widespread in bacteria. In the future, their findings could also help fight antibiotic resistance.
Bull and Bear in the Bacterial World
Like humans, bacteria live in most ecosystems with limited resources. Their resource investments are the result of weighing up costs and benefits - similar to financial systems. Victor Sourjik's Microbial Networks group has taken a closer look at bacterial investment strategies.
Synchro swimmers under the microscope
A spectacle in the winter sky - But not only birds, fish and even crowds of people show collective movement, also motile bacteria form intermittent jets and swirls. Biophysicist Remy Colin and his team have have now been able to show how swarm behaviour affects navigation in the environment.
A new molecular switch for cell division
Bacteria show an amazing variety of mechanisms to control the spatial arrangement of cellular components, a process that is vital for cell division. Researchers led by Martin Thanbichler have now discovered a previously unknown central component of this machinery.
Something old, something new in the Ocean`s Blue
Researchers from our Department of Biochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism have discovered a long forgotten metabolic pathway. Their publication in the journal Nature sheds new light on the carbon dioxide balance of the world's oceans.
