Kangaroo Farts Reduce Global Warming !

We are all familiar with cows and how they produce the majority of methane gas in the atmosphere that causes global warming. But not all animals produce farts that release large amounts of methane. In a recent study researchers discovered that kangaroos are different. They are special because unlike cows their farts contain less methane than cows, and this is due to a distinct mixture of microbes that are located in the kangaroo’s gut. The study found that the reason cows produce so a lot of methane is the majority of microbes in the digestive tract were methanogens, which are methane producing microbes. But among the kangaroos the microbes they contained were acetogens, which produce a substance called acetate. What was interesting was that both the cows and the kangaroos had a combination of the methanogens and acetogens, but why was it that in cows the methanogens outnumbered that acetogens and produced more methane and why in kangaroos were there more acetogens and few methanogens to produce more acetate and less methane. This is what the puzzled the research team and this is what they need to focus on. This study is very important because it could lead to cutting methane emissions from farm animals to slow down the affects of global warming. This article was very informative and interesting and the author did a good job of explaining it, the author wrote in humorous tone, which helps keep the reader interested and there was glossary at the end that was very useful for some of the vocabulary. 

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/kangaroos-have-green-farts

Gender Biased Microbes

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A new study has found that microbes cooperate with sex hormones to affect the immune system. This new study found that males and females have slightly different immune systems and this all has to do with certain gut microbes that are present in each gender. Females are able to mount a more powerful immune response to attacks than males. But this enhanced protection of the immune system in females has a flipside; it puts them at a greater risk of autoimmune disorders. The study also discovered that certain microbes prevalent in males could actually protect them from type 1 diabetes. In the study the researchers mentioned that this study has shed light on a topic that has not been studies much. "The gender bias in major autoimmune diseases is well known but not well understood," said Alexander Chervonsky of the University of Chicago, who also heads the research team. Although this research was a breakthrough and until now it wasn’t clear how the microbes and the sex hormones work together to influence gender bias in autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes. To understand this more the researchers studied microbial communities in mice. They were looking for differences in the males and females and found that the microbes became different once the mice reached puberty. With these results the researchers suggested that sex hormones contributed to gender-specific changes in the gut microbes. The authors article was very descriptive but was lacking some information that could have made a positive contribution to the article. The author could have mentioned which microbe it was that is different among the males and the females. But other than that it was fascinating to learn that males and females have slightly different immune systems because of gut microbes that each gender has.

E. coli To the Rescue.

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The bacteria E. coli is mostly known for making people sick and has always received a bad reputation. But most people don’t seem to know that E. coli is a regular inhabitant of the gut and actually benefits the host by producing vitamin K, and now scientists have discovered that they can reprogrammed the microbe to seek out and kill other disease-causing pathogens. This programmed type of E. coli can even kill bacteria within biofilms, which are responsible for many infections. We have previously learned in class about biofilms and how they can form within our bodies as well, some places where they can form is on your teeth and on medically implanted devices and this can lead to some serious infection if not treated promptly. Which is why this discovery can potentially be life saving, because the bacteria that cause these infections live in well-developed biofilms. In the study the researchers programmed the bacteria to sense Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria that can form biofilms and cause hospital acquired infections in the lungs and the gut. The E. coli swims to the Pseudomonas aeruginosa and kills it by releasing an antimicrobial peptide and an enzyme that is able to breakdown biofilms. This article was very interesting and the discovery has a lot of potential if it can be applied to the dental field because of the biofilm on teeth that cause cavities and gum diseases. In the entire article only one researchers name was mentioned, it did not mention who or what he does, which makes the article seem questionable but overall it was still quite interesting.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131002125505.htm

Beneficial Bacteria

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Our relationship with microbes is complicated; some make us sick but some help out our immune system. But Caltech professor of biology and biological engineering Sarkis Mazmanian recently discovered in a study that beneficial gut bacteria were necessary for the development of specialized white blood cells, that serve as the body’s first line of defense against pathogens. The study looked at the immune cell population in germ-free mice, which are mice born with gut bacteria, and in healthy mice with a normal population of gut microbes. In the study the researchers discovered that the healthy mice had more immune cells than the germ-free mice, which makes them better able to fight off infections. They also discovered that the germ-free mice had fewer granulocyte and monocyte progenitor cells, which are cell that eventually develop into a few types of mature immune cells.  The researchers tested to see if the mouse with a reduced amount of immune cells was able to fight off infection as well as the healthy mice. So they injected the mice with Listeria monocytogenes, the healthy mice were able to fight off the infection and recuperate but the infection was fatal to the germ-free mice. The research suggests that a healthy population of gut microbes can provide a alternative to antibiotics.What is really interesting about this study is that what is causing all these affects are the gut microbes; they are affecting areas like blood, spleen, and bone marrow, which are places where there shouldn’t be any bacteria.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140312132632.htm

Killer Microbe

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Pulling weeds out from your lawn can be a hassle and they always seem to grow back no matter how many times you pull them or even if you spray them, the spray can also be harmful. But researchers have now discovered that some microbes in the soil can actually prevent certain weeds from growing by having a microbial community in the roots that will kill the ragweed. Lead researcher was microbial ecologist Tony Yannarell from the University of Illinois, used high-power DNA fingerprinting tools to study all the microbes in the soil, by doing this he was able to identify those microbes that both preferred ragweed and affected its growth. Throughout the year we have been learning about microbes that have a symbiotic relationship with plants, but now they discover some of these relationships are parasitic. Although one might think that it is as simple as adding anti-ragweed microbes to the soil to prevent the weeds from growing but its not, Yannarell said “adding microbes to soil hasn't been successful in the past” so it is a bit more complicated. In order to be able to grow colonies of microbes that prevent ragweeds from growing there has to be certain types of other plants that have those microbes in the roots. This study yielded some interesting results but it looks like they have to study the microbes in order to better understand them and to be able to use them as a weed-suppressant. This article was really interesting and if the researchers were able to develop these anti-ragweed microbes then it would be very beneficial because it would eliminate the need for harmful sprays. One thing that the article could have changed is actually mentioning what microbes that they studied, this would give us a better insight and help us better understand it.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140325133548.htm

Skin Microbes

The Human Microbiome is the collection of microbes living in and on our bodies, the number of microbes greatly outnumber the amount of human cells in the body. Since there are so many microbes in our bodies we are always constantly learning new things about the microbes that inhabit our bodies. In this article researchers discovered that our immune system influences the types of microbes that live on our skin and thus potentially prevents disease. This meaning that the immune system of a healthy person will harbor different types of bacteria and fungi on the skin, compared to people with primary immunodeficiencies with eczema-like skin conditions. The study observed patients with reduced immune function as a result of rare genetic defects, in which they all had an eczema-like skin condition and compared them to healthy individuals to see what type of bacteria and fungi are growing. They concluded that the immune system plays a major role in dealing with what types of microbes your skin has, and that patients with the skin condition have different types of microbes present. In the study they also found that different areas of the body tend to have more or less microbes depending on the area. For example the skin at the elbow crease has very few microbes compared to the skin behind your ear. Although this article was interesting it was hard to follow and understand all the details. They also did not mention specific ways in which the study can actually help patients with the rare genetic disorders, they just gave a brief explanation that this research may have implications, which left me curious and with some unanswered questions. 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131029133542.htm

Patient with an eczema-like skin rash.

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Immortal MIcrobes !

Do you sometimes wish that you could stay young forever? I know I do. But aging is a part of life and is inevitable. But this is not that case of a common species of yeast microbe, which has actually evolved to stay young. Researchers from the University of Bristol and Max Planck Institute have discovered this microbe that stays forever young by rejuvenating every time it reproduces. The team showed that the yeast microbe called S. pombe is immune to aging when it is reproducing under favorable growth conditions. The way this works is by the yeast has to keep dividing fast enough, but also there are mechanisms in place that ensure that one half gets older and defective cell material, while the other half gets newly formed cell material which keeps it young. This is just like in humans, in a sense, that they produce offspring that is younger than the parent; but its different than in other microbes that split into two pretty equal halves. This all works perfectly under the right conditions, but the researchers also wanted to see if this still applied when the conditions were not so favorable. So the research team exposed the S. pombe to heat, ultraviolet radiation, and damaging chemicals, which affected the microbe growth so it could no longer stay young, and once exposed to these conditions the yeast cells began splitting into a younger and older half just like other cells. The researchers also stated that these findings could “potentially serve as a model of certain non-aging types of cells in humans”. It is amazing to learn that even microscopic organisms evolved powerful strategies to survive. Although this article was interesting it did not go into how exactly this could serve as a model of non-aging types of cells in humans. That left me wondering, how exactly cans this discovery help humans.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130912132005.htm

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