A vaccine protects more than 100 million infants each year from severe tuberculosis (TB), including the fatal brain swelling it can cause in babies and toddlers.

Scientists have discovered a new type of immune defense in E. coli bacteria that turns viral infection machinery against the virus itself. Named after the Chinese military strategist Kongming ...

Their results suggest that some aerobic bacteria emerged before the GOE, around 3.22 to 3.25 billion years ago. It’s likely that these bacterial lineages were the ancestors of cyanobacteria, ...

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and UCL have analyzed ancient DNA from Borrelia recurrentis, a type of bacteria that causes relapsing fever, pinpointing when it evolved to spread ...

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and UCL have analyzed ancient DNA from Borrelia recurrentis, a type of bacteria that causes relapsing fever, pinpointing when it evolved to spread ...

When these spores germinated, bacteria were also present in the cells of the next generation of fungi. This showed that the new endosymbiosis could be passed onto offspring — a key finding.

But bacteria aren’t defenseless; they’ve evolved a wide arsenal of antiviral strategies, including systems like Kongming, that can block phage infection.

Becoming adapted to the human louse. The researchers looked at differences in the ancient genomes and modern-day B. recurrentis to map how the bacteria has changed over time, finding that the ...