This Week in Microbiology

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276: Bacterial Multicellularity Near An Underground Stream Nov 24, 2022

Show notes

TWiM presents evidence that over half of human pathogenic diseases are impacted by climate change, and considers how a novel prokaryote discovered next to an underground stream illuminates the pathway to multicellularity.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Mark Martin.

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Links for this episode

Climate change and pathogenic diseases (Nat Climate Change)
Impacts of climate change on human diseases (MoraLAB)
Cave bacteria illuminate pathway to multicellularity (eLife)
Commentary on novel cave bacteria (eLife)
Karst landscapes (National Park Service)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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275: The Myth of Clonality Nov 11, 2022

Show notes

TWiM reveals high rates of co-transformation of plasmids in E. coli overturns the clonality myth, and bacterial membrane vesicles as a novel strategy for extrusion of the antimicrobial bismuth in H. pylori.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin

Links for this episode

The myth of clonality (Sci Rep)
Bacterial membrane vesicles extrude bismuth (mBio)
Gastric acid levels must decrease (World J Gastroenterol)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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274: Bacterial Endosymbionts Block Giant Viruses Oct 20, 2022

Show notes

Mark Martin returns to TWiM to join the discussion of how to design a complex gut microbiome, and protection of protists from virus infection by intracellular bacterial symbionts.

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

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Links for this episode

Design of a complex gut microbiome (Cell)
Defensive symbiosis against giant viruses (PNAS)
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Music by Ronald Jenkees.

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273: The Value of Wiping Sep 30, 2022

Show notes

TWiM reveals how to inactivate norovirus on formica surfaces, and how to achieve antibiotic resistance by suppression of a frameshift mutation in an essential gene.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email.

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Links for this episode

Effect of wiping on norovirus inactivation (Appl Env Micro)
Chlorine dilution calculator (Ontario Pub Health)
Antibiotic resistance by frameshift suppression (PNAS)
Resistance to rifampicin (Nature)
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Music by Ronald Jenkees.

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272: Metabolism's Got Rhythm Sep 16, 2022

Show notes

TWiM explores the activation of natural product synthesis using CRISPR interference in Streptomyces, and how light/dark and temperature cycling modulate Electron Flow in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin

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Links for this episode

Activating natural product synthesis (Nucleic Acids Res)
Light and temperature modulate biofilm electron flow (mBio)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

271: Microbe vs Microbe Aug 25, 2022

Show notes

TWiM presents a novel mucosal COVID-19 vaccine based on a bacteriophage capsid, and potentiation of C. difficile infection severity by the gut bacterial community.

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Links for this episode:

Bacteriophage based COVID-19 vaccine (mBio)
Gut microbiome potentiates C. difficile disease (mBio)
Letters read on TWiM 271

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

270: Magnets and Salt Improve Plastics Production by Archaea Aug 09, 2022

Show notes

TWiM explores the use of Archaea to produce plastics from molasses wastewater, and a bacterial defense against bacteriophage infection that involves depletion of deoxynucleotides.

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Links for this episode

Improving plastics production by Archaea (Appl Environ Micro)
Biodegradability of PHA (Green Chem)
What does tesla mean for an MRI and its magnet? (GE)
Bacteria deplete nucleotides to block phages (Nat Micro)
Antiphage hotspots in bacteria (TWiM 265)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

269: Bacterial But Not Microbial Jul 22, 2022

Show notes

TWiM reviews discovery of a bacterium that is visible to the naked eye, and reversible resistance to bacteriophage by shedding of the bacterial cell wall.

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Links for this episode

A bacterium that is not a microbe (Science)
Overwhelming microbial greatness (TWiM 261)
Medical illustrator Kellie Holoski
Bacteriophage resistance by shedding cell wall (Open Biol)
Who came first, monderms or diderms? (Nat Ecol Evol)
Letters read on TWiM 269
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

268: Aspergillus and Aspergillum Jul 08, 2022

Show notes

TWiM discusses citizen science surveillance of drug-resistant Aspergillus in garden soil, and the mechanism of action of a copper dependent antibiotic.

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Links for this episode

Fanny Hesse (Microbial Menagerie)
Citizen science surveillance of Aspergillus (App Envir Micro)
Aspergillum (Wikipedia)
DMDC, copper dependent antibiotic (Infect Immun)
National Summer Undergraduate Research Project
Letters read on TWiM 268
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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

267: The Honey Badger of Pathogens With Heran Darwin Jun 24, 2022

Show notes

From ASM Microbe 2022 in Washington, DC, Heran joins TWiM to discuss her career and her work on the agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson Guest: Heran Darwin

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Links for this episode