This Week in Microbiology

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226: Two microbes you might not know Sep 24, 2020

Show notes

TWiM presents two unusual microorganisms, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, heard by Elio in an episode of Doc Martin, and Roseomonas mucosa, which is being used to treat atopic dermatitis.

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Links for this episode:

Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae
Treating atopic dermatitis with R. mucosa (Sci Trans Med)
Overview of sphingolipid metabolism (Adv Exp Med Biol)
Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections (MTM 118)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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225: Lag phase is no slouch Sep 11, 2020

Show notes

The TWiM team explores how delivery of an enzyme into competitor cells leads to synthesis of (p)ppApp, depletion of ATP, deregulation of metabolic pathways, and cell death, and a refinement of our typical view of bacterial lag phase as a period of nonreplication.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, and Michael Schmidt

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Links for this episode:

Killing competitors by synthesis of (p)ppApp (Nature)
Lag phase is a dynamic period (J Bact)
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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

224: One hundred million year old bacteria Aug 28, 2020

Show notes

The TWiM team reveals the genetic mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls from sequencing of DNA, and 100 million year old living bacteria recovered from marine sediments.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michele Swanson and Michael Schmidt

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Links for this episode:

Elio's Memoirs
Genetic mysteries of Dead Sea Scrolls (Cell)
100 million year old bacteria under the sea (Nat Comm)
Image credit

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

223: The smell of soil Aug 15, 2020

Show notes

The TWiMmers explore detection of SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces in an ophthalmology examination room, the ability of stressed populations of Yersinia bacteria to survive antimicrobial treatment within host tissues, and how volatile organic chemicals produced by soil microbes attract arthropods which in turn disperse bacterial spores.

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Links for this episode

SARS-CoV-2 RNA in ophthalmology room (JAMA Ophth)
Stressed Yersinia survive doxycycline treatment (mBio)
Volatiles, a soil arthropod, and Streptomyces spore dispersal (Nature)
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Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

222: Biosensors in bacteria Jul 30, 2020

Show notes

Mark Martin joins TWiM to describe nano-sized parasitic bacteria that inhabit humans, and the construction of whole-cell biosensors for detecting arsenic in drinking water.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, and Michael Schmidt

Guest: Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode

Ultra-small parasitic bacteria in humans (Cell Rep)
Arsenic (WHO)
Arsenic and drinking water (CDC)
Arsenic biosensor in bacteria (Appl Envir Micro)

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

221: Weapon of mucus destruction, WMD Jul 16, 2020

Show notes

TWiM reveals a potential mucus-busting weapon for patients with cystic fibrosis, and bacteria in the intestinal tract that can oxidize cholesterol, leading to lower levels of the lipid in blood.

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Links for this episode

Biofilm eradication with nitric oxide release (ACS Inf Dis)
Pseudomonas quorum sensing network (Protein)
Cholesterol metabolism by gut bacteria (Cell Host Microbe)
Microbes might manage your cholesterol (Harvard Gazette)
TWiM Listener survey

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

220: From Mars to the vagina Jul 03, 2020

Show notes

TWiM reveals that methane-producing bacteria might survive beneath the surface of Mars, and identification of a cytopathogenic toxin in a bacterium associated with preterm birth.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michele Swanson and Michael Schmidt Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode:

Archaea could make methane on Mars (Sci Rep)
Cytopathogenic toxin in bacterium associated with preterm birth (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

219: Commensal for a healthy skin Jun 19, 2020

Show notes

The TWiM discusses eradicating racism in academia and STEM, and a peptide from commensal bacteria that protects skin from damage caused by MRSA

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Links for this episode:

Responsibility in academic research
Improving equity in faculty hiring (MBoC)
#ShutDownSTEM
Peptide protects skin from microbial damage (AAC)
Agr phase variants in S. aureus (mBio)
S. aureus quorum sensing system (BMC Res Notes)
COVID-19 joins pandemic legion (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

218: The lengths SARS-COV-2 will go Jun 06, 2020

Show notes

The TWiM team explains how breathing can transmit SARS-CoV-2, and how lack of breathing leads to loss of mitochondria in a multicellular parasitic animal.

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Links for this episode:

Reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (Science)
Why social distancing is important (NY Times)
Parasite without mitochondria (PNAS)
Letters read on TWiM 218

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

217: The chronicles of narnaviruses May 22, 2020

Show notes

The TWiM team explains an experimental vaccine to prevent E. coli urinary tract infections, and the remarkable three-way symbiosis of narnaviruses, bacteria, and fungi.

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Links for this episode

Developing a vaccine for UTI (mBio)
Narnaviruses and bacteria-fungal symbioses (ISME J)
20% off The Invisible ABCs for TWiM listeners! Use promo code: ABC20 at checkout.
TWiM Listener survey

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