Biologists have uncovered a new mode of communication inside cells that helps bacterial pathogens learn how to evade drugs.

New research shows that a large, ubiquitous mobile genetic element changes the antagonistic weaponry of Bacteroides fragilis, a common bacterium of the human gut. Bacteria evolve rapidly in the human ...

Viruses are known to use the genetic machinery of the human cells they invade to make copies of themselves. As part of the process, viruses leave behind remnants throughout the genetic material ...

Discover how Listeria bacteria communicate to develop antibiotic resistance and the implications for future drug development.

Transposons are critical drivers of bacterial evolution that have been studied for many decades and have been the subject of Nobel Prize winning research. Now, researchers from Cornell University have ...

A component of the human intestinal flora that has been little studied to date is the focus of a new study. Plasmids are small extrachromosomal genetic elements that frequently occur in bacterial ...

Our genome isn’t as peaceful as it looks—some DNA elements are constantly trying to disrupt it. Scientists studying fruit flies discovered that key proteins protecting chromosome ends must evolve ...