Shows
BacterioFilesSocial Slimes Synchronize SortiesThis episode: Slime mold amoebas Fonticula alba have interesting and unique foraging and reproductive behaviors! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cajanus cajan Panzee virus News item Takeaways How did life develop from single-celled organisms acting independently into the complex, multicellular organisms we see and are today? Although it is difficult to look back through time to study how ancient organisms may have developed along this path, it is possible to investigate modern organisms that occupy a zone in between single-celled and multicellular, to see if we can ge...
2023-12-1110 minBacterioFilesProbiotic Pulverizes Pathogen PersistersThis episode: A probiotic strain of E. coli can target and destroy pathogens that survive a treatment of antibiotics! Download Episode (8.2 MB, 12 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces griseoruber Takeaways Antibiotic resistance is becoming more and more of a problem as bacterial pathogens develop resistance to more and more drugs. For some people who develop an infection that is resistant to everything, it's as if they were living back in the days before antibiotics were discovered, when all they could do was pray for survival. New antibiotics are needed, but even mo...
2023-11-2011 minBacterioFilesBiohybrid Bacteria Build BiomassThis episode: Incorporating light-absorbing molecules into bacterial membranes can allow bacteria to use solar energy to transform nitrogen gas into fertilizer! Download Episode (6.5 MB, 9.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Wheat dwarf virus Takeaways Turning nitrogen gas into biologically useful compounds, such as protein or ammonia for fertilizer, is an essential part of the global nitrogen cycle and therefore, for agriculture. Today much fertilizer is produced from nitrogen gas by a chemical process that requires large amounts of energy, contributing to global warming. But certain bacteria can perform the same process using sp...
2023-10-3009 minBacterioFilesSmall Cell Sculpts Sticky Snot SphereThis episode: A marine protist predator traps prey microbes in an attractive bubble of mucus, eats what it wants, and lets the rest sink, possibly sequestering significant amounts of carbon! Download Episode (7.8 MB, 11.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bat associated cyclovirus 1 News item Takeaways The oceans have a lot of unique, unexplored life in them. This is true on a macro level but even more on a microscopic level, with many different kinds of microbes of various groups with fascinating life strategies. And despite being microscopic, with enough of t...
2023-10-1611 minBacterioFilesBacteriophages Boost BrainsThis episode: Certain phages in the gut are linked with increases in performance on some cognitive tests! Download Episode (7.5 MB, 10.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces bikiniensis News item Takeaways Our gut microbiota includes a large number of viruses, mostly bacteriophages. These fall into two groups, the lytic kind that infects and reproduces itself immediately in a host, and the lysogenic kind that can integrate its genome into the host bacterial genome and remain dormant for long periods. In this study, a higher proportion of lysogenic p...
2023-10-0210 minBacterioFilesRecycling Resources Raises RobustnessThis episode: Adding tags to proteins to increase their degradation can help engineered bacteria grow and survive better under various conditions! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Lactococcus virus sk1 News item Takeaways Engineering bacteria with new genetic pathways allows us to use them in many new and promising applications. Some of these are industrial fermentations, growing large quantities of bacteria to use as catalysts for production of chemicals of interest, such as biofuels. But in other cases, engineered microbes can be most useful in less c...
2023-09-1810 minBacterioFilesColony Concentric Clock ConstructionThis episode: Single-celled bacteria can act independently to create patterns and structure in their biofilm communities! Download Episode (9.6 MB, 14.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dictyostelium discoideum Skipper virus News item Takeaways Large multicellular organisms like us have interesting mechanisms for using one set of genetic instructions present in all cells to form a large, complex community of many different types of cells with different structures and functions, all working together. Single-celled microbes do not have the same requirements for genetic or structural complexity, but they do often display i...
2023-09-0414 minBacterioFilesHijacker-Host Sequence SwapThis episode: Gene transfers between viruses and eukaryotes have happened many times throughout evolutionary history! Download Episode (7.5 MB, 10.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mycoplasma subdolum News item Takeaways As we’ve all seen recently, viruses can cause a lot of trouble. Their biology requires them to be parasites inside the cells of their hosts, and they can cause devastating disease, so it’s hard to think of them as having played important roles in the development of life on Earth, including our own evolution. However, this study found...
2023-08-2110 minBacterioFilesBait Bottlenecks Bear BacteriaThis episode: Human-based food used as bait by hunters can reduce bears' gut microbe diversity! Download Episode (5.9 MB, 8.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Actinomadura verrucosospora News item Takeaways Gut microbes are important for the health of most animals. In humans, many things can affect our gut microbe community, including diet, medications, and lifestyle. Eating a varied diet with diverse kinds of plant-based foods can maintain a healthy, functional community of many different kinds of microbe. However, eating mostly highly processed grain-based foods can reduce the diversity and functionality of t...
2023-07-0308 minBacterioFilesUncomplicated Critters Conquer CancerThis episode: Simple microscopic animals can survive extreme radiation by ejecting damaged cells that might otherwise become cancer! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Helleborus net necrosis virus News item Takeaways Any multicellular organism with different types of cells needs some sort of cell regulation, to keep each cell type doing what it’s supposed to do for the good of the organism as a whole. We know what happens when this regulation fails and one type of cells starts multiplying out of control: cancer. How...
2023-05-2209 minBacterioFilesBabies Bear Bacterial BirthrightThis episode: How family members share gut microbes across multiple generations! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dyozetapapillomavirus 1 Takeaways Our gut’s microbial communities can greatly influence our health, for good or bad. The makeup of these communities can be influenced by many factors, including genetics, health status, diet, and other aspects of the environment we live in. We’ve learned a lot about this topic recently, but there’s a lot more we still don’t understand. In this study, gut microbe samples from individuals spanning multiple...
2023-04-2410 minBacterioFilesHijackers Hitchhike on Hyphal HighwaysThis episode: Bacteriophages can hitch a ride on bacteria they don't infect to travel through soil on fungal filaments, potentially helping their carriers by infecting and killing their competitors! Download Episode (7.1 MB, 10.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Epinotia aporema granulovirus News item Takeaways For tiny bacteria, partially dry soil can be like a vast system of caverns, with particles of soil separated by air-filled spaces much bigger than individual bacteria. Not all bacteria can swim through liquid, and those that can’t simply try to thrive as best they can...
2023-03-2710 minBacterioFilesBamboo Breakdown Benefits Beetle BabiesThis episode: Beetles inoculate bamboo with a fungus that consumes the bamboo sugars to feed the beetle larvae! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Saccharomyces cerevisiae virus L-BC (La) News item Video: Lizard beetle laying its egg Takeaways The structural polymers that make up plants, such as cellulose, can be difficult for many organisms to digest. Some kinds of bacteria and fungi can do it, and some animals (cows, pandas, termites) partner with these microbes to be able to eat otherwise indigestible plant material. This i...
2023-03-1311 minBacterioFilesModifying Mixed MicrobiotaThis episode: New techniques allow specific modifications in certain members of a complex community of microbes, without isolating them in pure culture first! Download Episode (11.5 MB, 16.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Tomato golden mosaic virus News item Takeaways The technology for understanding and manipulating microbial genetics has come a long way in a short time. It used to take years even to sequence a small genome, and now thousands can be sequenced in just a few days. The technology to change and even create genetic sequences is also much f...
2023-02-2716 minBacterioFilesStalker Cells Stop Seafood SicknessThis episode: Predatory bacteria could protect lobster farms from disease-causing bacteria! Download Episode (4.8 MB, 7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Gordonia rubripertincta Takeaways Antibiotics have done wonders for controlling bacterial pathogens. Many people have lived that would otherwise have died, and some industries have produced much more than they would have, particularly those involved in animal farming. However, more and more targeted pathogens are developing resistance to the antibiotics we have, and new ones are harder to discover, so alternative approaches are needed. Here, predatory bacteria take the place of ant...
2023-01-2306 minBacterioFilesBacteriophage Bunks in Bacterial BarriersThis episode: A bacteriophage that overcomes the bacterial CRISPR/Cas immune system by interrupting the CRISPR DNA with its own genome! Download Episode (6.8 MB, 10 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Wenzhou mammarenavirus Takeaways Bacteria have many ways to resist being exploited by bacteriophage viruses, including the adaptable CRISPR/Cas system that uses a piece of viral nucleic acid sequence to target and destroy incoming phages. But phages also have many ways to evade and disrupt bacterial defenses. In this study, a phage is discovered that inserts its own genome into t...
2022-12-2609 minBacterioFilesCaulobacter Condensates Compartmentalize KinaseThis episode: Bacteria can use blobs of disordered proteins to quickly adapt to new conditions! Thanks to Dr. Saumya Saurabh for his contribution! Download Episode (10.9 MB, 15.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Drosophila melanogaster Micropia virus Takeaways Bacteria can adapt to environmental fluctuations via mechanisms operating at the various levels of the central dogma, or metabolism (stringent response). Recently, researchers at Stanford University discovered a mechanism that allows bacteria to sense and rapidly adapt to nutrient fluctuations by simply tuning protein self-assembly as a function of nutrient availability. Termed membraneless organelles or cond...
2022-11-2115 minBacterioFilesPhage Fight Foils FitnessThis episode: A phage both kills bacterial pathogens and selects for reduced virulence! Download Episode (6.3 MB, 9.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Helminthosporium victoriae 145S virus News item Takeaways Using bacteria-killing viruses to treat bacterial infections, or phage therapy, can be a good alternative to antibiotics in some situations when there are no effective antibiotics for a particular infection. But bacteria can evolve resistance to phages as well as antibiotics, often with little cost to their fitness. In this study, a phage not only could treat an infection by att...
2022-08-2909 minBacterioFilesSuper Small Symbionts Soothe SymptomsThis episode: Tiny bacteria that live on larger bacteria reduce the inflammation and gum disease the bigger microbes cause in the mouths of mice! Download Episode (6.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Actinomadura viridilutea Takeaways Even bacteria can be hosts to smaller symbionts living on them. Some kinds of these extremely tiny bacteria live in various parts of our bodies, and are sometimes associated with inflammation and the resulting disease. But being associated with something isn't necessarily the same as causing that thing. In this study, tiny bacteria living on...
2022-07-1109 min
The Cosmic Nonsense Happy HourFear with Tony NoarEpisode 21: We talk FEAR with Tony Noar, co-host of The Pop Culture Connection podcast and local horror movie expert. For extra spookiness Amy and Tony joined our call from inside the dreaded "well of terror"! So if their audio sounds a little echoey that's why. Well of terror... real place... and they were there. Enjoy!The Pop Culture Connection: https://open.spotify.com/show/4mSBz04qbW4pQ64mimnQmC?si=21b01bbf211c42e6Say hi!cosmicnonsensehappyhour@gmail.comhttps://www.facebook.com/cosmicnonsensehappyhourWebsite:https://thecosmicnonsensehappyhour.buzzsprout.com...
2022-05-091h 55BacterioFilesProphage Provides Partial ProtectionThis episode: A virus lurking in a bacterial genome protects its host population from infection with other phages, by killing off infected cells! Download Episode (7.6 MB, 11.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Olive latent ringspot virus Takeaways Many bacteriophages just go in and gobble up all their host's resources to make a bunch of new viruses right away. Others play a longer game, splicing into and lurking in the host's genome across multiple generations until conditions are right to multiply more rapidly. It is beneficial to these latter kind when their host is...
2022-04-0411 minBacterioFilesCommensal Can Kill CholeraThis episode: Harmless gut microbes resist cholera with good defense or better offense! Download Episode (5.8 MB, 8.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces corchorusii News item Takeaways The community of microbes in our guts is highly diverse, yet generally they all coexist relatively peacefully. Some pathogens can invade this community and cause massive disruptions. Cholera is a disease caused by a pathogen that injects its competing bacteria with toxins and disrupts the health of the gut, leading to very watery diarrhea that can quickly dehydrate victims. This study found that some micr...
2022-02-2808 minBacterioFilesPrion Pivots Productive PathwaysThis episode: Prions in yeast can allow better adaptation to changing conditions! Download Episode (9.5 MB, 13.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hepatovirus F News item Takeaways Prions can be deadly. They're misshapen proteins that cause a cascade of misfolding of similar proteins if they get into the nervous system, resulting in neurodegeneration in mammals. But in other organisms, they are not always so scary; some fungi use prions to regulate their behavior in varying conditions. In this study, a prion allows yeast to switch between a fast-growing lifestyle with shorter reproductive life...
2021-12-2713 minBacterioFilesMicrobes Mining Mars MineralsThis episode: Bacteria are able to extract metals from rocks for industrial use, even in microgravity! Download Episode (6.2 MB, 9.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Decapod ambidensovirus 1 News item Takeaways As humanity makes progress toward becoming an interplanetary species, consideration is needed on how travelers can survive and thrive in distant places. These methods may look very different from what works well on Earth, with differences in gravity, atmosphere, and access to resources. For example, mining for materials for construction may not be feasible using methods common on Earth. An alternative may...
2021-12-0609 minBacterioFilesPartners Produce Predator PreventionThis episode: Bacteria living inside soil fungus produce toxins that can protect their host from tiny predators! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mycobacterium virus DLane Takeaways Soils have many different organisms cooperating and competing for resources. Some little worms called nematodes prey on fungi in the soil, while fungi may effectively defend themselves or strike back with toxins or traps that catch and kill the worms. On top of these interactions are other organisms that interact in various ways. In this study, bacteria living inside a kind of so...
2021-11-2211 minBacterioFilesProdding Pollen's Popping ProcessThis episode: Certain nectar-dwelling bacteria can induce pollen to germinate to access their tasty proteins! Download Episode (6.0 MB, 8.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Clostridium oceanicum News item Takeaways Nectar in flowers seems like it would be a great place for microbes to live, since it has so much sugar, but it's actually somewhat difficult to thrive solely in and on nectar. The carbon in sugar is only one essential element for life, and there's enough of it that it can be overwhelming to the osmotic balance of many microbes. Pollen cou...
2021-11-0908 minBacterioFilesSelectively Stimulating Cell SquattersThis episode: Bacteria produce a compound that causes a phage lurking in the genome of a competing species to wake up and start killing that competitor! Download Episode (8.2 MB, 12.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Zaire ebolavirus News item Takeaways Some bacteriophages infect and immediately destroy their hosts in a burst of new viruses, while others can be stealthier, integrating their genome into the genome of the host and remaining there quietly even over multiple generations of the bacteria. When something stresses the host, such as DNA damage, these integrated phages (pro...
2021-09-2012 minBacterioFilesSuper Ciliate Symbiont SetThis episode: A eukaryote has symbionts living in it: green algae and also purple bacteria, a combo never seen before! Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Staphylococcus virus phiETA News item Takeaways Having bacteria as endosymbionts is fairly common in life on Earth: almost all eukaryotes have them in the form of mitochondria and sometimes chloroplasts. These former bacteria somehow got inside the ancestral eukaryote, either as parasites or as prey, and ended up as integral parts of their host's metabolic functions. Some organisms, especially insects, obtained bacterial endo...
2021-09-1308 minBacterioFilesIngrained Invader Inhibits InfectorsThis episode: Training a phage strain on bacteria can increase its ability to control those bacteria for much longer than an untrained phage! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Pepper yellow leaf curl Indonesia virus News item Takeaways With resistance to antibiotics spreading more and more among deadly bacteria, finding alternatives to treat infections is becoming more important. One option is phage therapy, using viruses that infect bacteria to weaken or wipe out pathogens, but this can be tricky. Sometimes it takes too long to prepare an effective pop...
2021-09-0608 minBacterioFilesProkaryote Publicity Prevents Protist ProcessesThis episode: A bacterial communication signal makes algae stop growing, which helps them survive virus attacks! Download Episode (5.3 MB, 7.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Veillonella parvula Takeaways Many interesting interactions between microbes take place in the ocean. As single-celled organisms lacking complex sensory organs, many such interactions and communications are mediated by chemical signals. Some bacteria, for example, each produce small amounts of certain chemicals and release them into the environment. When the concentration of the chemical signal builds up to a certain point, the bacteria change their behavior to take ad...
2021-08-1607 minBacterioFilesProkaryotes Provide Polyp PerserveranceThis episode: Transplanting microbes from some corals to others could help the corals survive high temperatures! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces olivaceoviridis News item Takeaways The ever-rising temperatures of our modern world are putting more and more stress on various ecosystems. This is true even on the ocean floor: record-high temperatures damage reefs by causing coral bleaching, in which corals lose their photosynthetic endosymbionts. If conditions do not improve, these corals eventually die. Corals have microbial symbionts other than the phototrophs, also. We know from ourselves and...
2021-08-0208 minBacterioFilesSlimy Cells Stop SinkingThis episode: Bacteria can resist the force of gravity in liquid culture by covering themselves with goopy sugar polymers like parachutes! Download Episode (10.4 MB, 15.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brevicoryne brassicae virus Takeaways Put bacteria in a centrifuge, and most of the time you end up with a compact pellet of cells at the bottom of the tube, and mostly cell-free liquid above it. Bacteria do have ways to remain suspended in liquid, even without constant stirring or shaking of the container, but swimming, for example, consumes energy. In this study, art...
2021-07-1915 minBacterioFilesSmall Cell Studies: Superior ScoopsThis episode: Newspapers report on scientific studies about microbiomes a fair amount, but certain kinds of studies are more likely than others to show up in the news! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cafeteriavirus-dependent mavirus Takeaways Research into the human microbiome has generated a lot of interest, even among non-scientists. This is especially true since the beginning of the Human Microbiome Project in 2007. But sometimes things are lost in translation from published studies into general news. This study is a survey of microbiome studies reported in six different new...
2021-06-2808 minBacterioFilesInvader Induces Increased ImmensityThis episode: A virus of archaea stops cells from dividing, so they just keep getting bigger and releasing more viruses! Download Episode (6.9 MB, 10.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces caelestis Takeaways Viruses affect their hosts many different ways: instant hostile takeover of cellular machinery, lurking unseen in the genome for generations, inducing reduced cell division or excessive cell division, and more. Archaeal viruses are relatively unknown in their genetic abilities and lifestyles, but we do know that they tend not to destroy their hosts through explosive viral reproduction, and that some ar...
2021-06-2110 minBacterioFilesMarine Microbes Make Megapascal Management MoleculeThis episode, in honor of World Ocean Day: Bacteria that may move between high and low pressure areas in the ocean use a particular molecule to protect their cells from being crushed! Download Episode (6.6 MB, 9.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Rickettsia rickettsii News item Takeaways Life in the ocean can have many challenges, depending on the organism and where it lives. Microbes can be found in almost every region, from the warmest to coldest, brightest to darkest, and shallowest to deepest. Sometimes microbes are carried from shallow to deep regions, whe...
2021-06-0709 minBacterioFilesHitchhiking Horticultural HelpersThis episode: Spores of some bacteria latch onto the tails of other bacteria and ride along as they move around in the soil! Download Episode (5.5 MB, 8.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bohle iridovirus News item Takeaways The soil is a complex environment, and microbes that live in soil need complex lifestyles to thrive. There are many examples of cooperation, competition, and other adaptations to highly varied situations. In this study, bacteria that grow like filamentous fungi don't have the mechanisms to move autonomously, but their spores can hitch rides on othe...
2021-05-3108 minBacterioFilesPhenazine Faciliates Phosphorus FeedingThis episode: Some bacteria produce antibiotics that can also help them gather more nutrients! Download Episode (5.0 MB, 7.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Diadromus pulchellus toursvirus News item 1 Takeaways Antibiotics have saved a lot of lives since they were discovered and used to treat many previously untreatable bacterial infections. But bacteria themselves have been making antibiotics much longer than we have, to help compete in their environment. However, sometimes these compounds are not produced in large enough concentrations to act as antibiotics, killing or inhibiting rival bacteria. Why waste energy on thi...
2021-05-2407 minBacterioFilesProkaryotic Partner Powers ProtistThis episode: Single-celled eukaryotes can thrive without oxygen with the help of bacterial endosymbionts that respire nitrate the way our mitochondria respire oxygen! Thanks to Jon Graf for his contribution! Download Episode (12.4 MB, 18.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brenneria salicis News item 1 / News item 2 Takeaways The combination of a bacterium and other microbe into the first eukaryote was a big advance in evolutionary history; it made possible the huge variety of different body shapes and sizes we see today. This is thanks to the bacterial endosymbiont, the mitochondrion, taking on speci...
2021-05-0318 minBacterioFilesPhototrophs Fancy Floating FeastsThis episode: Despite being photosynthetic, some kinds of algae engage in predatory behavior, hunting and consuming live bacteria! Download Episode (4.9 MB, 7.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus 1 News item Takeaways Although most of them are microscopic, algae perform a significant portion of the photosynthesis on the planet, because there are so many of them. But even though photosynthesis seems like a reliable way of acquiring energy, there are conditions under which even algae benefit from gathering energy and nutrients from other organisms. This is called phagomixotrophy, when alg...
2021-04-1907 minBacterioFilesSubterranean Spotlights Support CyanobacteriaThis episode: Lighting in caves open to tourists supports the growth of unwanted photosynthetic bacteria! Download Episode (6.6 MB, 9.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dill cryptic virus 2 Takeaways Caves can contain amazing beauty, intricate geological formations formed by minerals, water, and time. Some, such as Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, have been fitted with instruments to allow tourists to pass through and see the wonders within; definitely a worthwhile experience. Caves also have their own natural microbiota that can live within them, in the dark, somewhat cold, and nutrient-poor conditions. But with the...
2021-04-0509 minBacterioFilesParalyzed Poisons Push PowerThis episode: Deep-sea bacteria can detoxify cadmium and convert it to light-capturing particles! Download Episode (5.8 MB, 8.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Arthrobacter virus Sonny Takeaways Hydrothermal vents can have thriving communities, despite being too deep for much light to penetrate. Microbes can derive energy from chemicals coming out of the vent, and form the foundation of the food chain. But toxic heavy metals also come out of the vent, including lead, mercury, and cadmium. The microbes in this study were found to be resistant to cadmium, which they can detoxify by comb...
2021-03-2908 minBacterioFilesMyxomycete Makes Mycelial MemoriesFinally found some good stories, so we're back! This episode: How slime molds encode and use memories built into their own bodies! Download Episode (4.6 MB, 6.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Aeromonas salmoncida News item Takeaways Despite being single-celled organisms, slime molds have fairly complex behavior, including a basic form of memory. They often grow as a network of tubes of cytoplasm branching out from one place to find and exploit new sources of food in their environment. When these tubes connect to new food, other less productive branches of its bo...
2021-03-2206 minBacterioFilesBig Bacteria Bank BehaviorsThis episode: Giant bacteria with many chromosomes in each cell carry extra genes to help them live in many different environments! Download Episode (8.7 MB, 12.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Propionibacterium virus SKKY News item Takeaways We think of bacteria a certain way: too small to see and having mostly just a single large chromosome with all the genes they need for their lifestyle and not much more. And most bacteria are like that. But not all! Giant bacteria exist, some of which can be so large that individual cells can be...
2021-02-0812 minBacterioFilesBiofilm Benefits Bone BracesThis episode: The biofilm that probiotic bacteria can leave behind on a titanium implant seems to help it integrate better with the existing skeleton, with less inflammation and risk of infection! Download Episode (5.5 MB, 7.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Methylobacterium organophilum News item Takeaways Skeletal implants make it a lot easier for many people to stay mobile as they age, but the surgical procedure of implanting is risky. Its invasive nature puts stress on the immune system, which puts stress on other systems, and the spread of antibiotic resistance is in...
2021-02-0107 minBacterioFilesLiving Lurking Landmine LocatorsThis episode: Engineered bacteria encapsulated in little beads sense chemicals from landmines and give off light! Download Episode (6.4 MB, 9.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bifidobacterium pullorum Takeaways Landmines are a good way to take an enemy by surprise and do some damage. They're so good that some places in the world still aren't safe to go decades after a conflict, due to intact landmines hidden in the area. In order to detect them from a distance to aid in disarming efforts, we need something very good at detecting the faint o...
2021-01-2509 minBacterioFilesStrange Sequence Stops Cell SubjugationThis episode: An interesting bacterial genetic element protects against viruses in a unique way! Download Episode (7.1 MB, 10.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mongoose associated gemykibivirus 1 News item Takeaways Even single-celled, microscopic organisms such as bacteria have to deal with deadly viruses infecting them. And while they don't have an immune system with antibodies and macrophages like we do, they still have defenses against infection, mostly based on sensing and destroying viral genomes. Restriction enzymes cut viral genomes at specific places, and CRISPR/Cas targets and destroys specific viral sequences. Knowing t...
2021-01-1810 minBacterioFilesGut Group Gives Gamma GuardThis episode: Certain gut microbes protect mice from harmful effects of high-energy radiation! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Solenopsis invicta virus-1 News item Takeaways High-energy radiation can be very dangerous. Besides a long-term increased risk of cancer due to DNA damage, a high enough dose of radiation can cause lethal damage to multiple systems in the body, especially the gastrointestinal tract and the immune system. Finding new ways to treat or prevent damage from radiation would be very helpful for improving the safety of space travel, nuclear en...
2021-01-1110 minBacterioFilesFossil Phototroph PhagocytosisThis episode: Algae surviving impact that killed the dinosaurs seem to have consumed other organisms to make it through the dark times! Download Episode (7.1 MB, 10.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Chaetoceros tenuissimus RNA virus 01 News item Takeaways Being able to look through time and learn about what might have happened to creatures throughout Earth's history is what makes paleontology great. Everyone knows about dinosaurs and what happened to them at the end of the Cretaceous period thanks to science. But what we can learn is not limited just to large o...
2020-12-2810 minBacterioFilesHyphal Hijacker Helps HarvestsThis episode: A fungus-infecting virus transforms the fungal foe into a friend of its host plant! Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hepacivirus J News item Takeaways Viruses can be useful for treating various diseases, especially bacterial infections and cancer. Their ability to target certain cell types specifically makes them great at hunting down and killing disease-causing cells without harming the body's healthy tissue. And just as bacteriophages can work to treat bacterial disease in us, fungal viruses could help to treat serious fungal infections in crop plants. In...
2020-12-2108 minBacterioFiles440: Prokaryotes Pay for PassageThis episode: Bacteria pay for the privilege of cruising around soil on fungus filaments! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Clostridium acetobutylicum News item Takeaways In the complex environment of soil, many different kinds of organisms coexist. Some compete with each other, while others cooperate in fascinating interactions. One example is how bacteria can swim through a film of water surrounding the filaments of fungi, allowing them to traverse more quickly and reach new locations. In this study, an interaction between fungus and bacterium is discovered in which th...
2020-12-1411 minBacterioFilesMicrobes Mitigate Mushroom MorbidityThis episode: Bacteria protect farmed mushrooms from damage by other bacteria by breaking down their toxins! Download Episode (4.9 MB, 7.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Tomato mosaic virus Takeaways Almost all organisms are vulnerable to pathogenic microbes that make them sick or cause damage. Most also have other microbes that help them grow better or protect them from pathogens. This includes animals, plants, and also fungi. In this study, bacterial pathogens produce a toxin that causes button mushrooms to turn brown and rot. However, other bacteria can degrade this t...
2020-11-3007 minBacterioFilesBacteria Bait Bug BabiesThis episode: Actinomycete bacteria are often helpful to insects, but some can be deadly yet still attractive! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces corchorusii News item Takeaways Actinomycete bacteria do a lot of interesting things. They grow like fungi, with mycelia and spores, and produce many interesting compounds, including antibiotics and other useful pharmaceuticals. They often team up with insects, producing such compounds to assist them in competing with other organisms or resisting disease. But such amazingly helpful powers of chemistry can also be amazingly harmful. In...
2020-11-1608 minBacterioFilesBalmy Bacteria Build BoneThis episode: Warmth helps mice build stronger bones, mediated by bacteria producing certain compounds! Download Episode (6.8 MB, 9.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Aquaspirillum serpens News item Takeaways Bones aren't just solid, structural supports for the body's tissues. They're active and alive, housing important components of the immune system, and also capable of being broken down and built up in response to changes in the body's interactions with the environment. Various things can affect bone mass and health, including nutrition, temperature, age, and even the body's microbes. In this study, two...
2020-11-0909 minBacterioFilesCopper Concentrates Culture CurrentThis episode: Copper electrodes, rather than killing bacteria in microbial fuel cells, allow them to generate higher densities of electric current! Download Episode (5.0 MB, 7.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Xipapillomavirus 2 News item Takeaways Copper is widely used as a way to make surfaces and materials antimicrobial, to cut down on the spread of pathogens in hospitals and other environments. Among other mechanisms, it reacts with oxygen to form reactive oxygen species that are very harsh on microbial proteins. But copper is also a good electrical conductor, which would be us...
2020-10-2607 minBacterioFilesInvader Introducing Infrared Invokes ImmunityThis episode: Combining Salmonella with something called photoimmunotherapy to attack tumors in multiple ways! Download Episode (8.2 MB, 11.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Shimwellia blattae Takeaways Distinguishing healthy from unhealthy tissue is one of the big challenges when dealing with cancer. Since cancer is derived from healthy tissue, there are many similarities between them that make it hard to target it specifically. This is especially important when cancer is spread in multiple places throughout the body, as opposed to a single tumor that can be removed locally. In this study, ba...
2020-10-1911 minBacterioFilesKiller Carries Compact CasThis episode: Large phage discovered that contains a compact version of the CRISPR/Cas defense/gene editing system! Download Episode (5.9 MB, 8.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Stenotrophomonas virus IME13 News item Takeaways CRISPR/Cas systems have made a lot of things in gene editing much easier in certain organisms. It's almost as easy as just getting the cells to produce the Cas protein and putting in an RNA sequence to tell it where to go! But in some cases, these requirements are too much to work well. In...
2020-09-2808 minBacterioFilesProbiotic Promotes Pathogen PeacefulnessThis episode: A probiotic can protect intestine-like cell growths from destruction by pathogens, but it can also be infected by a virus that makes it more harmful to intestinal cells! Download Episode (6.9 MB, 10.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Euphorbia yellow mosaic virus News item Takeaways There are many strains of Escherichia coli. Some are pathogenic, in the gut or the urinary tract, and a subset of those are very dangerous, such as the enterohemorrhagic O157:H7 strain. Many others are commensals, living peacefully as part of our gut com...
2020-09-2110 minBacterioFilesMoses Microbes Maintain MoistureThis episode: Bacteria living in the driest place on earth have ways to extract water from the mineral structures of rocks! Download Episode (3.7 MB, 5.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Irkut lyssavirus News item Takeaways Microbes living in extremely dry conditions have it tough. Water is important both for the chemistry and structure of all cells. Desert microbes are very good at acquiring and holding on to the water they can find, but in places such as the Atacama Desert in Chile, there's almost none available. However, microbes can be...
2020-09-0705 minBacterioFilesConductive Cables Control CarbonThis episode: Cable bacteria around rice roots transport electrons and help prevent formation of methane! Thanks to Vincent Scholz for his contribution! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Vibrio alginolyticus News item Takeaways Transforming other things into methane is a great way to make a living for some kinds of microbes. These tend to live under still water, like in rice fields or wetlands, or in the guts of cattle. And while this methane could be useful as natural gas if collected, it's a much more pot...
2020-08-3108 minBacterioFilesDextrose Deposits Delay DormancyThis episode: Bacteria that can store sugar as glycogen have multiple advantages when food is only available sporadically! Download Episode (7.2 MB, 10.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Carnivore bocaparvovirus 3 Takeaways Almost all habitats experience some sort of change and fluctuation; very few are totally stable, depending on the timeframe. So strategies to change and adapt with changing conditions can greatly help an organism thrive. For example, methods of storing energy are helpful when food is only available sporadically. Some bacteria, like humans, can store sugar in a polymer called glycogen, wh...
2020-08-2410 minBacterioFilesSpringtails Smell, Spread StreptomycesThis episode: Bacteria in soil produce smells to attract arthropods that eat them but also spread their spores! Download Episode (6.2 MB, 9.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Blotched snakehead virus News item Takeaways Soil, especially after a rain, often has a characteristic "earthy" smell. This soil smell is actually the result of certain bacteria producing a volatile chemical called geosmin. Many geosmin producers are in the Streptomyces genus, which produces a large variety of interesting chemicals, but geosmin is one of the few that is nearly universal in the ge...
2020-08-1709 minBacterioFilesMicrobes May Manage MysteriesThis episode: The skin microbes that people leave behind may be used to identify them, even after other people have touched the same surface! Download Episode (5.4 MB, 7.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Actinobacillus lignieresii Takeaways The microbial communities in and on our bodies are highly complex and highly varied between people; this complexity has raised the question of whether the microbes that people transfer onto things they touch could be used in forensics, to track their movement and activity, like fingerprints or DNA evidence. One difficulty with this approach i...
2020-08-1007 minBacterioFilesSimple Cells Stay StrongThis episode: Bacterial cells with their genomes removed can still be active and useful! Download Episode (10.2 MB, 14.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Rosavirus A Takeaways Microbes have amazing biochemical transformation abilities, creating and breaking down many compounds and proteins. This makes them great candidates for many purposes, in medicine, industry, and environmental remediation. In some of these purposes, though, there are risks associated with adding foreign microbes, especially engineered ones, that can replicate themselves and possibly persist, into new places. To avoid this risk, this study turns intact bacteria in...
2020-08-0314 minBacterioFilesSensory Cilia Supply SusceptibilityThis episode: A fungus paralyzes its tiny worm prey by acting on the worm's own sensory hairs! Download Episode (6.0 MB, 8.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bat associated cyclovirus 9 Takeaways Not all predators are fast or agile; some are sneaky, or good trap builders, or just good chemists. The predator club includes animals but also plants and even fungi. For example, the oyster mushroom fungus can paralyze roundworms in the soil that touch its filaments, then degrade their bodies and consume their nutrients. The mechanism of this paralysis has been a...
2020-07-2708 minBacterioFilesPaired Predators Prevent Pathogen PersistenceThis episode: This episode: A bacteriophage and bacterial predator can wipe out a population of bacteria that could develop resistance to each individually! Thanks to Laura Hobley, J. Kimberley Summers, and Jan-Ulrich Kreft for their contributions! Also a note: I will be taking a short break from podcasts while I rebuild my collection of awesome microbiology stories to talk about. Download Episode (6.8 MB, 9.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Blackbird associated gemycircularvirus 1 Takeaways Bacteriophages and bacterial predators that prey on other bacteria are both very good at killing large numbers of...
2020-06-2209 minBacterioFilesStranger Cells Switch Stable StatesThis episode: Certain bacteria can greatly affect the makeup of a microbial community, even if they quickly disappear! Thanks to Dr. Daniel Amor for his contribution! Download Episode (6.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Gadgets Gully virus News item Takeaways Microbial communities show more than just competition between species. Stable assemblies of many species can exist for long periods in places like the human gut, despite constant minor shifts in conditions. More major shifts, or invaders like pathogens coming in and taking over, can cause big disruptions in...
2020-06-1509 minBacterioFilesRoundworm Riders Route Rootworm ResistanceThis episode: Helping insect-killing bacterial symbionts of nematodes evolve resistance to chemicals that major corn pests use to defend themselves! Download Episode (10.0 MB, 14.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Listeria virus PSA Takeaways Interactions between species and even kingdoms in nature can be complex and multilayered. This means that when we want to intervene to cause a particular outcome, there may be multiple points at which we can act, but the consequences may be hard to predict. In this study, action was taken to counteract the damage the Western corn ro...
2020-06-0813 minBacterioFilesFrigid Phototrophs Fuel FordsThis episode: Producing both biodiesel and bioethanol fuels from cold-loving Arctic algae! Download Episode (8.7 MB, 12.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Royal Farm virus Takeaways Renewable fuels such as biofuels can allow existing infrastructure and vehicles to continue to operate in a more sustainable manner, which could reduce the cost and impact of switching to new/different systems of transportation like electricity. Economically competitive methods of producing biofuels are still being explored and developed. In this study, Arctic algae are grown in cold temperatures using only light, carbon dioxide, and a...
2020-06-0112 minBacterioFilesNucleocapsids Navigate Nano NuggetsThis episode: Using phages to target gold nanoparticles to infecting bacteria, then using light to heat the nanoparticles just enough to kill the bacteria! Thanks to Raymond Borg and Huan Peng for contributing! Download Episode (10.6 MB, 15.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Pantoea agglomerans News item Takeaways Viruses that infect bacteria, bacteriophages, are often very good at overcoming bacterial defenses and killing them. This raises the possibility, and many times actuality, of using phages to treat bacterial infections that are no longer treatable with antibiotics. But b...
2020-05-2515 minBacterioFilesCell Societies Stay StableThis episode: Simplified gut communities growing in bioreactors grow and metabolize reproducibly, with only moderate variations, even when individual members of the community are absent! Download Episode (8.2 MB, 11.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Citrobacter virus Merlin Takeaways The community of microbes in our guts is highly complex, with thousands of species all interacting with each other, with our own cells, and with the contents of our diet. Each region of the gut has a different collection of microbes as well. Many questions remain to be answered about the functions a...
2020-05-1811 minBacterioFilesMarine Methane Microbe MultiplicationBacterioFiles is back! This episode: Measuring how quickly marine methane-consuming microbes become active when new methane enters an area! Download Episode (9.0 MB, 13.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Torque teno midi virus 6 Takeaways Oceans and the organisms living in them have a large effect on the planet, in terms of climate and gases they absorb from or release into the atmosphere. They are a source of much of a potent greenhouse gas, methane, but microbes living in ocean sediments also consume large amounts of methane. These anaerobic methanotrophic archaea generate e...
2020-05-1113 minBacterioFilesSpecial Sea Species Swallows CellsThis episode: A newly discovered species of bacteria consumes other bacteria as prey by engulfing them! Download Episode (8.7 MB, 12.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: SARS-CoV-2! This is the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, the current pandemic. For more up-to-date information, please refer to the American Society for Microbiology, This Week in Virology, and other reputable sources. Stay healthy! Takeaways There are bacteria living almost every different lifestyle you can think of, including predatory, preying on other bacteria. Since bacterial cells are usually quite rigid, bacterial predators usually consume others either b...
2020-03-1612 minBacterioFilesBacteriophage Blocks Bacterial BouncersThis episode: A phage defends its genome against bacterial host defenses by building a wall to keep them out! Download Episode (7.0 MB, 10.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Myroides odoratus and M. odoratimimus News item Takeaways Parasites and their hosts are constantly in arms races with each other, each thriving best when it acquires new and more effective methods of attack, defenses, defenses against defenses, and so on. Bacterial defenses against viruses that infect them mostly involve cutting up viral genomes, either by the indiscriminate specific-cutting restriction enzymes, o...
2020-03-0910 minBacterioFilesOxygen Or Other Oxidizes Iron?This episode: Earth's iron deposits could have been created by anaerobic light-harvesting microbes instead of those that make oxygen! Download Episode (9.3 MB, 13.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces avidinii News item Takeaways In the ancient earth, the sun was dimmer, the world was colder, and oxygen was rare because photosynthesis had not yet evolved. Without oxygen to oxidize it, iron remained in its soluble, more accessible form, and many organisms took advantage of it for anaerobic metabolism. But was it photosynthesis and the oxygen it c...
2020-03-0213 minBacterioFilesGlobal Glomus Growth GuessesThis episode: A global estimate of plants and their root fungi shows how agriculture may have greatly affected soil carbon storage over time! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Rhizobium virus RHEph4 News item Takeaways Even small organisms can have a big effect on the climate of the planet if there are enough of them. This includes trees, which are small relative to the planet, and also includes the fungi that attach to the roots of trees and other plants. These mycorrhizal fungi thread subtly t...
2020-02-2408 minBacterioFilesProducing Proton Power PerpetuallyThis episode: Microalgae can produce hydrogen, but other metabolic pathways take priority, except when special engineered hydrogenase enzymes can overcome this limitation! Download Episode (8.4 MB, 12.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Alphapapillomavirus 11 Takeaways There are many options being explored as ways to replace fossil fuels. Electricity and batteries are good, but they have their limitations, especially for long-distance high-energy travel such as airplanes. Hydrogen is one good option: high energy density, clean-burning, simple to produce. Microbes can produce hydrogen through various metabolic pathways, including fermentation, nitrogen fixation byproduct, and photosynthesis. H...
2020-02-1712 minBacterioFilesFinding Fire Fungi FootholdsThis episode: Some fungi only form fruiting bodies after forest fires; where do they hide the rest of the time? At least for some of them, the answer is: inside mosses! Thanks to Daniel Raudabaugh for his contribution! Download Episode (6.2 MB, 9.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Nocardia brevicatena News item Takeaways Forest fires can do a lot of damage, but life grows back quickly. Certain kinds of plant seed actually only germinate after a fire, and a similar thing is true of certain kinds of f...
2020-02-1009 minBacterioFilesCarbon Concentration Complicates Crop CooperationThis episode: Looking at the effects of almost doubling CO2 concentrations on the interaction between wheat varieties and beneficial fungi! Download Episode (8.1 MB, 11.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Lato River virus News item Takeaways As the world's population grows, feeding everyone will grow more challenging. Advances in technology in the past have made today's population possible, but future advances may be needed, especially in the face of an increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Soil microbes that partner with crop plants for the b...
2020-02-0311 minBacterioFilesParasite Produces Partial Plant-like PredatorThis episode: Giant virus in newly discovered microscopic marine predator encodes several light-harvesting proteins! Download Episode (7.8 MB, 11.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dolphin mastadenovirus A News item Takeaways Giant viruses are distinct in many ways from other viruses, even aside from their size. One way is the large number and variety of genes they carry in their genome. Though many of their genes are unknown in origin and function, many others appear to take the place of essential reproductive functions, such as translation and protein synthesis. This a...
2020-01-2711 minBacterioFilesMicrobes Modify Muscle MeasurementThis episode: Mice that got a microbe transplant from humans with higher physical function performed better in certain ways than mice receiving microbes from humans with lower physical function! Download Episode (6.7 MB, 9.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Stenotrophomonas maltophila News item Takeaways Our bodies and our microbe communities are closely interconnected, with effects going both ways. Studies had previously shown that making changes to the microbe communities of mice could even affect the physical function and body composition of the mice. This study aimed at a...
2020-01-2009 minBacterioFilesMarine Methane Mostly MunchedThis episode: Microbes in low-oxygen zones in the ocean consume significant amounts of methane anaerobically! Download Episode (5.2 MB, 7.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mojiang henipavirus News item Takeaways Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Fortunately there's not as much of it in the atmosphere, but even smaller amounts can have significant effects on the climate. One source of methane is low-oxygen zones in the ocean, where certain kinds of archaea make methane as part of their energy metabolism. This study f...
2020-01-1307 minBacterioFilesCurrents Carry Cloud CreatorsThis episode: Ocean bacteria brought up from the sea floor into the air can help create clouds! Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces thermodiastaticus News item Takeaways The ocean is an important player affecting the climate of the planet, in many ways. Its effects on clouds influence the amount of solar radiation reflected back into space or trapped as heat, and microbes play a role in this effect. Certain microbes make particles that form the nucleus of water droplets or ice crystals that make u...
2020-01-0608 minBacterioFilesFungus Facilitates Phototroph FeedingProbably the last episode of the year. See you in the next! This episode: Fungus living inside plants helps them form partnerships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria! Download Episode (5.9 MB, 8.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Prevotella intermedia Takeaways Plants are very good at acquiring carbon, but they can often use some help with other nutrients. Many form partnerships with microbes such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria or mycorrhizal fungi that can help gather nutrients from the soil better than the plants' own roots. In this study, legume plants could f...
2019-12-2308 minBacterioFilesDifferent DNA Destroys Disease DriversThis episode: DNA from related species can kill certain pathogens when they incorporate it into their genome! Download Episode (7.9 MB, 11.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Ungulate tetraparvovirus 3 Paper summary (paywall) Takeaways Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacteria that cause gonorrhea, have the unusual ability of taking up DNA from their surroundings at any time and making use of it in their own genome. This helps them acquire useful traits that help them survive better, such as antibiotic resistance. But it turns out that the ability is also a secret we...
2019-12-1611 minBacterioFilesCoated Colonizers Counteract CorrosionThis episode: Coating metal surfaces with artificial biofilms could help keep the surfaces corrosion-free even in the ocean! Download Episode (6.3 MB, 9.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hymenopteran ambidensovirus 1 Takeaways The ocean can be a harsh place for metal surfaces. Between the water, the salt, and oxygen (near the surface), corrosion is a common reality. Microbes in the ocean can contribute to this too, degrading metal structures to obtain energy for their metabolism. They colonize surfaces in biofilms that can be difficult to remove, a process called biofouling. I...
2019-12-0909 minBacterioFilesPhages Force Food FindingThis episode: Another climate-related story: Cyanobacteria infected by viruses continue taking up nutrients from their environment, using it to make more viruses than would otherwise be possible! Download Episode (6.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Microcystis virus Ma-LMM01 News item Takeaways Though global warming is a global problem, accurate models for predicting where things are headed need to incorporate the activity of even the smallest organisms, if they're numerous enough. Photosynthesis and other activities of microbes in the oceans are a big sink for carbon, but cycles o...
2019-11-2509 minBacterioFilesMercury Modifies Microbe MetabolismThis episode: First episode of a climate-related arc! Considering microorganisms is important when predicting the amount of carbon coming from soil as temperature increases! Download Episode (4.7 MB, 6.75 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces virus Zemlya News item Takeaways Soil as a whole has a big influence on the climate of the planet, by enabling the communities of organisms that live in it to interact and grow, taking up gases from the atmosphere and putting others back in. Even aside from plants that grow in it, the other o...
2019-11-1806 minBacterioFilesMicrobe Membranes Mobilize MicrogliaThis episode: Gut microbes can stimulate immune cells in mouse brains to fight off viral infections! Download Episode (9.0 MB, 13.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptoverticillium mobaraense News item Takeaways The central nervous system, including the brain, is a protected area of the body. Pathogens that get in can do a lot of damage, including memory loss, paralysis, and death, so there's a strict barrier in healthy people that keeps most things out of this area: the blood-brain barrier. The immune system is also kept separate, so special c...
2019-11-1113 minBacterioFilesPhototrophs Fill Fungal FilamentsThis episode: In this partnership between fungus and algae, the algae eventually take up residence inside their partner! Download Episode (8.4 MB, 12.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Erwinia tracheiphila News item/Summary article Takeaways Partnerships and cooperation between otherwise free-living organisms is common in the natural world. Partnering with a photosynthetic organism is a smart approach, allowing the partner to get its energy from the sun and making gathering nutrients easier for the phototroph, and possibly offering protection as well. But in most partnerships, each partner stays separated b...
2019-11-0412 minBacterioFilesConsidering Consumables' Community CorrelationsThis episode: Figuring out how gut communities change with changes in diet! Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hepacivirus A News item Takeaways Diet can play a big role in our health. It's not a magic pill that can cure or prevent anything, but a good diet can significantly reduce many health risks for the average person, compared with a bad diet. Diet also has a big effect on the community of microbes in our gut, and this may play a role in t...
2019-10-2108 minBacterioFilesConductor Creating Carbon CanvasesThis episode: Bacteria can aide the production of the useful material graphene, using their ability to add electrons to external surfaces! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brevibacterium frigoritolerans News item Takeaways Advanced materials often take advanced techniques to create, but they offer numerous benefits: increased strength and flexibility, smaller size, more options. One such material is graphene, which is basically a sheet of carbon atoms linked together like chainmail. It is only a single atom thick but is amazingly strong, mostly transparent, and good a...
2019-10-1411 minBacterioFilesMarathon Microbes Maximize MileageThis episode: Bacteria found in the guts of serious athletes help mice exercise longer by transforming their metabolic waste! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Aggregatibacter (Actinobacillus) actinomycetemcomitans News item Takeaways Our gut microbes affect many aspects of health, and many aspects of how we live affect our microbes. One such aspect is physical exertion, which has been associated with enrichment of various microbes in the guts of athletes. This observation led to the question: are these microbes just benefiting from the high levels of e...
2019-10-0710 minBacterioFilesPlant Promotes Pathogen-Prohibiting PartnerThis episode: Plants stimulate their root bacteria to compete better, and these bacteria help the plants resist disease! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bacillus circulans Takeaways In some ways, plants' roots are like our gut. They both absorb nutrients, and they both have complex communities of microbes living alongside the host cells. These microbes can assist their hosts in various ways, and get fed in return. In this study, one species of root bacterium is able to compete against others by producing an antimicrobial c...
2019-09-3010 minBacterioFilesBacteria Boost Blood Bank BudgetsThis episode: Bacterial enzymes could convert donated blood to be compatible with more people in need! Download Episode (8.0 MB, 11.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cucumber leaf spot virus News item Takeaways Blood transfusions using donated blood save many lives. Unfortunately, most donations can't be given to just anyone that needs blood; there must be a match in blood type between donor and recipient, or else a life-threatening reaction could occur in the recipient's body. So type A can't donate to type B, or vice versa, but type O...
2019-09-2311 minBacterioFilesMany Microbiome MindsetsThis episode: Five different ways of thinking about our relationship with our microbes! Download Episode (20.4 MB, 29.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Tuhoko rubulavirus 3 News item Takeaways The microbiome by itself is an amazingly complicated community of many different species, with different lifestyles and metabolisms, all living together in competition and cooperation. On top of that, interactions between the microbiome and our body and our lifestyle multiply the complexity even more. This article explores five different views of the microbiome and how it fits into our b...
2019-09-1629 minBacterioFilesSkinny Cell Structure SupportsThis episode: Not as simple as it sounds—how rod-shaped bacteria maintain their shape! Thanks to Dr. Ethan Garner for his contribution! Download Episode (6.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Erwinia virus M7 News item Takeaways Microbes seem like they should be a lot simpler than large multicellular organisms, but even what seems like it should be a simple system in microbes can be surprisingly complex. In this case, the system bacteria maintaining their particular cell shape. Spherical cells have it easier: just add...
2019-08-2609 minBacterioFilesProkaryote Partner Prevents Pathogen PotencyThis episode: Bacterial symbionts of amoebas help them survive bacterial infection, and prevent pathogens from spreading to others as much! Download Episode (7.5 MB, 8.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Eubacterium dolichum News item Takeaways Amoebas are free-living, single-celled organisms, but they have some things in common with some cells of our immune system (macrophages). For example, certain bacterial pathogens can infect both in similar ways. So it can be useful to study the interactions of amoebas and bacteria to learn about our own immune defenses. In t...
2019-08-1208 minBacterioFilesMagnetic Microbes Maneuver Marine ManagerThis episode: A marine protist can orient itself along magnetic fields thanks to bacterial symbionts on its surface that make magnetic nanoparticles! Download Episode (7.2 MB, 7.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Chlorocebus pygerythrus polyomavirus 3 Takeaways Various kinds of bacteria can orient their movement along a magnetic field. These are called magnetotactic, and they use this ability to swim toward or away from the surface of their aquatic habitat, to adjust their oxygen exposure according to their preference. No eukaryotic microbes have yet been discovered that can sense and r...
2019-08-0507 minBacterioFilesSlime Stores Sodium SensibilityThis episode: Slime molds can learn to get used to salt and hold on to that memory even after a period of dormancy! Download Episode (8.9 MB, 9.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Nocardia transvalensis News item Takeaways Slime mold Physarum polycephalum has many surprisingly intelligent abilities, despite being only a single cell. Studying how these abilities work in the cell can teach us new ways that life can do things. The ability of interest here is habituation, or learning not to avoid a chemical that seems unpleasant to t...
2019-07-1509 min
AudiommunityEpisode 20 - Bacteriophiles with Jesse NoarSomething a bit different this episiode. Last month, we joined Jesse Noar, host of the excellent Bacteriophiles podcast to record an episode about oncolytic viruses (viruses that blow up cancer cells). We hope you enjoy it, then head on over to microbe world and subscribe to Jesse's podcast. LinksPaper: Myxoma virus suppresses proliferation of activated T lymphocytes yet permits oncolytic virus transfer to cancer cells
2016-04-2100 min