This Week in Microbiology

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366: Our Vanishing Ancient Gut Microbes Oct 25, 2026

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TWiM explains a bacterial antiviral defense system that uses a noncoding RNA template to build tandem-repeat DNA through a mechanism that parallels how eukaryotic telomerase extends telomeres, and genome sequencing of the Tsimane of Bolivia and the Hadza of Tanzania which reveals over a thousand gut bacterial species shared between the two populations, many now vanishing from industrialized humans, suggesting they co-migrated with our ancestors out of Africa and into the Americas.

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Links for this episode:

Antiviral immunity via telomerase-like reverse transcription in bacteria (Nature)
Prehistoric global migration of vanishing gut microbes with humans (Nature)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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365: Bacteria Inside a Fungus Sabotage Plant Defenses Oct 10, 2026

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TWiM explains how bacterial endosymbionts enhance fungal virulence by disrupting the protective rhizobiome, and the development of rationally engineered Salmonella typhimurium strains with enhanced safety and antitumor efficacy.

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Links for this episode:

Plant, fungus, endosymbiont, and rhizobiome (PNAS)
Engineering S. typhimurium to kill tumors (mBio)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

364: DNA Damage as Defense Against Bee Pathogens Sep 26, 2026

Show notes

TWiM wonders why archaea are not pathogenic, and reveals how a colibactin produced by a honeybee gut symbiont defends against pathogens.

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Links for this episode:

Why are archaea not pathogenic? (mBio)
Archaeal viruses (Archaea)
Colibactin made in honeybee gut (Nat Micro)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

363: Why Vegetables Are Good for Your Heart Sep 12, 2026

Show notes

TWiM explains the finding that Bunsen burners do not decrease deposition of microbe-containing particles, and how gut microbiota generate dinitrosyl iron complexes with cardiometabolic benefits.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Michael Schmidt

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Links for this episode:

Bunsen burners don't do what you thought they did (Micro Spectrum)
How does air circulate in passenger planes? | AFP
How germs travel on planes | Raymond Wang
Gut bacteria and cardiometabolic health (Cell)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

362: When Gut Bacteria Share Chromosomes Aug 29, 2026

Show notes

TWiM explains how movement of DNA among gut bacteria drive large-scale genome mosaicism, and validation of a method for detection of Cyclospora cayetanensis in outbreak-linked fresh produce.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin

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Links for this episode:

Natural DNA transformation in the gut (ISME J)
The transformation factor (J Exp Med)
Validating cyclospora assay (J Food Prot)
Cyclosporiasis (CDC)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

361: Bacteria and Colon Cancer Recurrence Aug 14, 2026

Show notes

TWiM explains the discovery of an avirulent bacterial signature associated with the development of recurrence following colorectal cancer surgery, and phage-derived proteins and conjugates that induce pilus detachment.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin

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Links for this episode:

Bacterial signature is associated with colon cancer recurrence (Nat Comm)
Phage-derived proteins induce pilus detachment (J Bact)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

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360: Nitrogen Fixation Goes Eukaryotic Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

TWiM explains major implications of the link between plastic pollution and antimicrobial resistance, and the discovery of a new organelle, the nitrogen-fixing nitroplast.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson

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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Links for this episode

Plastic pollution and antimicrobial resistance (Appl Envir Micro)
The great Pacific garbage patch (YouTube)
Rumen microbiome (Nat Biotech)
Nitrogen-fixing organelle in marine alga (Science)
This cell just changed biology (YouTube)
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359: Kin Killing and Metal Hunger Jul 18, 2026

Show notes

TWiM explains how cannibalism shapes biofilm structure and composition in Bacillus subtilis, and the importance of manganese uptake in uropathogenic E. coli during urinary tract infection.

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Links for this episode:

Cannibalism shapes biofilm structure (mBio)
Manganese and uropathogenic E. coli (mBio)
Regulation of Bacterial MntH Genes (NLM Bookshelf)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

358: Gut Microbes and ALS Jul 04, 2026

Show notes

TWiM explains the connection between inflammation caused by microbial glycogen in the gut and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and how disruption of cysteine metabolism leads to synthetic lethality and in vivo fitness impairment in Acinetobacter baumannii.

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Links for this episode:

Myeloid cell gene prevents inflammatory response to microbial glycogen (Cell Rep)
Cysteine metabolism and fitness impairment in Acinetobacter baumannii (mBio)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

357: Remembering Elio at Tufts Jun 15, 2026

Show notes

TWiM visits Tufts University School of Medcine and are joined by John Coffin, Michael Malamy, and Verna Manni for a tribute to Elio Schaechter who was chair of Molecular Biology and Microbiology for 23 years.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin

Guests: John Coffin, Michael Malamy, and Verna Manni

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Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

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