A universal toolkit for editing bacterial DNA
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 8-Jun-2026 04:16 ET (8-Jun-2026 08:16 GMT/UTC)
A major collaboration involving nine labs, led by scientists at Gladstone Institutes, has transferred a particularly useful DNA editing system from E. coli into 14 new species of bacteria, spanning three major branches of the bacterial family tree. Their approach, described in Nature Biotechnology, takes advantage of retrons, an immune system from bacteria that produces DNA that can be repurposed for editing genomes.
The harsh environmental conditions and the vast distance for transportation present significant challenges to ensuring a stable resource supply for human activities on Mars. Utilizing in-situ Martian air as the working medium for energy transfer and material conversion, coupled with advanced thermodynamic cycles and chemical processes, could offer an innovative path to build sustainable energy station on Mars. This perspective highlights the key role of Martian atmosphere in multimodal resource conversion. Researchers propose a design framework for future in-situ Martian energy systems, analyze the implementation pathways and current status of resource conversion, and demonstrate its potential to reduce rocket payload costs through thermodynamic analysis. Finally, they summarize the future challenges and directions in the field of multimodal resource conversion on Mars.
A new study finds that bacteria can actively block the transfer of beneficial genes to neighboring cells, using specialized proteins to specifically destroy shared DNA before it spreads. This challenges the long-held view that bacteria freely exchange genetic material and reveals a more competitive system in which microbes tightly control who gets access to valuable traits, an insight that could help scientists better understand and potentially limit the spread of antibiotic resistance.
Experts in environmental and human health from the University of Plymouth’s newly-established Centre of Environmental Hepatology are investigating whether the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in the liver is directly contributing to the soaring global rates of liver disease.