Molecular Microbiology

Molecular Microbiology covers basic to translational research, studies of microbes (bacteria, archaea, eukaryotic microorganisms, and viruses) and systems.

A man in a blue and orange shirt standing in front of a tree line.

Friday Feature: Undergraduate Researcher Shashank Hirani

This summer we're profiling recipients of summer undergraduate research fellowships to learn about their academic interests and glance into their daily lives as...
Stefanie Eben looks up at the camera with a smile. She is standing next to an anaerobic chamber.

Researchers shed new light on how copper poisons microbes

Copper is deployed by our immune system to fight off pathogens and is also used in health care settings to stave off bacterial infections, but how the element does so is unclear. Now, research published in Molecular Microbiology by microbiologists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign...
Green Florescent Protein (GFP) being expressed in a strain of E.coli in L.B. agar medium .The plate in the center is the control that is not expressing any GFP.

E. coli induces repair enzymes to protect itself from low-grade hydrogen peroxide stress

Building upon decades of research, scientists at the University of Illinois have determined Escherichia coli (E. coli) induces DNA repair enzymes to protect itself from low-grade hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) stress. Their collective findings, published recently in Molecular Microbiology, suggest the...
Research image courtesy of Slauch lab: Certain stresses or conditions induce production or import of putrescine and/or cadaverine. Once stress is relieved, the polyamines need to be exported via PaeA. Failure to export leads to high polyamine concentrations that are lethal under certain conditions.

Researchers characterize the function of PaeA, a protein involved in Salmonella virulence

The regulation of polyamines is essential for the physiological function of organisms. Simplistically, polyamines are organic cations that interact with RNA, including ribosomes and translational machinery. Both the lack of and an excess of polyamines confer lethal phenotypes, though the molecular...