New light-sensing ability discovered in disease-causing bacteria

The bacteria that cause brucellosis can sense light and use the information to regulate their virulence. The discovery comes after 120 years of research into the disease, which causes abortions in livestock and fevers in humans. Researchers found that two other bacteria, including a species that attacks plants, sense light using the same type of protein structure, and at least 94 more species possess the code for it in their DNA.

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