Microbiome Content

More Than Meows: How Bacteria Help Cats Communicate

Andy Fell — November 15, 2023 - 10:15am

Many mammals, from domestic cats and dogs to giant pandas, use scent to communicate with each other. A new study from the University of California, Davis, shows how domestic cats send signals to each other using odors derived from families of bacteria living in their anal glands. The work was published Nov. 8 in Scientific Reports.

Hibernating Corals and the Microbiomes That Sustain Them

Katherine E Kerlin — December 01, 2022 - 8:30am

What happens to a coral's microbiome while it hibernates? A ��ϲʿ��ͼ study found microbial communities shift while a coral sleeps, which may inform coral health and recovery efforts.

‘Friendly’ Gut Bacteria May Eliminate Pathogens by Competing for Energy Resources

Andy Fell — May 16, 2022 - 4:32pm

New research from scientists at ��ϲʿ��ͼ Health provides clues for how friendly bacteria in the gut — probiotics — may help eradicate bacterial pathogens like Salmonella by competing with them for needed resources.

The study, published May 13 in Cell Host & Microbe, shows that the availability of needed nutrients alone doesn’t define where bacteria — including pathogens like Salmonella — can survive and thrive in the gut.

Gut Bacteria Differences Between Black and White Women Linked to Insulin Sensitivity

Amy M Quinton — January 19, 2022 - 11:00am

A ��ϲʿ��ͼ study finds significant differences in gut bacteria between Black and white women, even after accounting for insulin sensitivity status.

Drought Changes Root Microbiome

Andy Fell — July 22, 2021 - 8:01am

Drought can have a lasting impact on the community of microbes that live in and around roots of rice plants, a team led by ��ϲʿ��ͼ researchers has found. Root-associated microbes help plants take up nutrients from the soil, so the finding could help in understanding how rice responds to dry spells and how it can be made more resilient to drought. The work is published July 22 in Nature Plants.

Can the Right Probiotic Work for Breast Milk-Fed Babies?

Amy M Quinton — March 24, 2021 - 8:30am

Breast milk-fed babies given the probiotic B. infantis plays a valuable role in a healthy digestive system. The probiotic will persist in the baby's gut for up to one year.

Media Advisory: ��ϲʿ��ͼ LIVE on Coronavirus in the Built Environment

Andy Fell — July 13, 2020 - 9:00am

Can the way we design and use buildings affect the transmission of COVID-19? Will the pandemic affect how we think about indoor spaces where we live and work? In the next ��ϲʿ��ͼ LIVE: COVID-19, July 16, we will hear from two researchers who study the microbes that live in buildings and how they can affect our health.

The guests:

National Survey Shows Different Bacteria on Cellphones and Shoes

Andy Fell — June 09, 2020 - 4:06pm

The largest study of its kind in the U.S. shows thousands of different types of bacteria living on cellphones and shoes, including groups that have barely been studied by scientists.

“This highlights how much we have to learn about the microbial world around us,” said David Coil, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, Genome Center and first author on the paper, published June 9 in the journal PeerJ.

Rectal Microbes Influence Effectiveness of HIV Vaccine

Andy Fell — December 13, 2019 - 11:03am

Microbes living in the rectum could make a difference to the effectiveness of experimental HIV vaccines, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis. The work is published Dec. 11 in the journal mSphere.

Microbes Make Chemicals for Scent Marking in a Cat

Andy Fell — September 13, 2019 - 4:06pm

Domestic cats, like many other mammals, use smelly secretions from anal sacs to mark territory and communicate with other animals. A new study from the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis, shows that many odiferous compounds from a male cat are actually made not by the cat, but by a community of bacteria living in the anal sacs. The work is published Sept. 13 in PLOS ONE.