Spiroplasma is a genus of pretty odd bacteria. Most bacteria can be classified as either Gram-positive or Gram-negative. That is, they’re either surrounded by a cell wall and plasma membrane ...

Maternally inherited symbionts are common in arthropods and many have important roles in host adaptation. The observation that specific symbiont lineages infect distantly related host species implies ...

Frank O. Bastian, MD, is professor of pathology and director of neuropathology at the University of South Alabama, Mobile. He has published numerous research articles relating to the etiology of ...

Bacteria of the Spiroplasma genus produce toxic, ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) that appear to protect their symbiotic host flies against parasitic wasps, according to new research published in ...

Fruit flies across North America are evolving at breakneck pace -- and it has nothing to do with their genes. Instead they've acquired a bacterial infection that protects against the sterilizing ...

An endosymbiotic bacterium, Spiroplasma, specifically kills the males of its fruit-fly host (Drosophila). This has perplexed biologists since the 1950's, but scientists have now solved the mystery by ...

Increasing attention has been paid to the maternally inherited microbes that are capable of manipulating the reproduction of their hosts for their own benefit. Although several studies have revealed ...

A bacterium that lives inside fruit flies has found a new way to ensure it gets passed on to the next generation of flies — by protecting female flies against infertility. Fruit flies in North America ...

You would think a bacterial infection might ruin your sex life, but not if you're a fly – in fact quite the opposite. There's a war being fought inside American fruit flies. Parasitic nematode worms ...

Bacteria of the Spiroplasma genus produce toxic, ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) that appear to protect their symbiotic host flies against parasitic wasps. Bacteria of the Spiroplasma genus ...

Bacteria of the Spiroplasma genus produce toxic, ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) that appear to protect their symbiotic host flies against parasitic wasps, according to new research published in ...