Mostly Microbes and Infection

Researchers identify a protein (HDP1) that plays a critical role in activating genes required for the development of Plasmodium falciparum. The finding provides important new insights into how the malaria parasite controls conversion into gametocytes.

Chemists discover how the structure of the EmrE transporter changes as a substrate moves through it. Proteins similar to this one, which is found in E. coli, are believed to help bacteria become resistant to multiple antibiotics.

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David Ojcius is Professor at the University of the Pacific in San Francisco, USA. He gained his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and did research at Rockefeller and Harvard before moving to the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, where he worked for thirteen years. His research interests include viruses and intracellular bacteria, interactions with the innate immune system, microbiota, biochemistry and cell biology of infected cells, inflammation and aging. https://www.journals.elsevier.com/current-research-in-microbial-sciences/editorial-board/david-m-ojcius-phd

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Engineered ammonia-producing bacteria could replace crop fertilizers. Scientists modified the soil -inhabiting bacteria Azotobacter vinelandii. The bacteria were known to convert nitrogen into ammonia but new strain excretes ammonia at much higher levels.

Article analyzed 26 studies from around the world encompassing >5,600 hospitalized COVID19 patients. Zinc, vitamin C & vitamin D don't prevent COVID deaths. But vitamin D shortened patients' hospital stay if they started taking it after getting COVID.