Science Stories

    A new antibiotic that selectively acts against Gram-negative bacteria have been discovered in the nematode, Photorhabdus . They named the antibiotic Darobactin .   Darobactin is coded by a silent operon and has an unusual structure with two fused rings that are formed post-translationally. It is produced in very low quantity in laboratory conditions and is  synthesized ribosomally . The Compound is active against Gram-negative bacteria both in vitro and in animal models of infection. The last time we discovered a class of antibiotics against gram-negative was in the 1960s. References : A new antibiotic selectively kills Gram-negative pathogens. Nature 2019

HIV virus                                    For the first time in nearly two decades, a team of scientists has discovered a new strain of HIV. HIV has several subtypes or strains and they mutate over time . HIV subtypes are classified into different groups based on the latest guidelines (2000). The HIV strain that causes a global pandemic is from group M. The newly discovered strain is also from the  HIV-1 Group M, subtype L.1  and it is the first HIV subtypes from group M identified since guidelines for classifying subtypes were established in 2000. It was reported by  Abbott Laboratories, which conducted the research with the University of Missouri .  Is it dangerous for us? We don't need to   panic because not a lot of people are infected with this strain and there is medicine available to treat against this strain.  There's no reason to panic or even to worry about it a little bit ," Fauci, director of US National institute of allergy and infectio

Template from Watson and Crick molecular Model, 1953 . Nature is one of the most recognizable and most cited scientific journals of the world with an impact factor of 43 (2018). Nature is edited and published in the United Kingdom by a scientific publishing company Springer Nature. Nature is a weekly journal. Being published in nature is very prestigious. Recently, on 04 November 2019, Nature published the top 10 most influential nature papers of all time. Here is the list with no particular order.   The structure of DNA: On 25 th April 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick announced in Nature that they had elucidated the structure of DNA.  In the early 1950s, the identity of genetic material was still a matter of debate. This discovery of the helical structure of double-stranded DNA settled the matter and change the history of biology forever. The advent and rise of monoclonal antibodies: In 1975, Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein first report how cell lines cou

                              What is Bacterial vaginosis? Normally, Lactobacillus species dominated the microbiome community of human Vagina. Bacterial vaginosis is a vaginal inflammation. It occurs when there is disbalance  in the bacterial community i.e. when anaerobes dominate the microbiome instead of Lactobacillus species. Symptoms of BV: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is prevalent in women of reproductive age affecting from one-fourth to one-third of women. BV may be associated with the risk of upper genital tract infection, complications of pregnancy and susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections (STDs). The study: In this study, five patients suffering from Bacterial vaginosis  were recruited . A healthy vaginal fluid for transplantation was collected from the donors . They were then transferred to the patients suffering from BV. All the patients were monitored regularly. Four out of five patients showed long-lasting improvements. The fifth patient sho