This Week in Microbiology

Latest Episodes:

196: I hear you Mar 29, 2019

Show notes

The Microbials discuss how ambrosia beetles utilize ethanol to farm fungi, and how cleaved cochlin protein sequesters bacteria in the inner ear to preserve hearing function.

Links for this episode:

Ambrosia beetles, ethanol, and farmed fungi (PNAS)
Cleaved cochlin protects the inner ear (Cell Host Microbe)
Importance of flossing (ADA)

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Become a Patron of TWiM!

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

195: Gingipain in the Alzheimer brain Mar 04, 2019

Show notes

Michael and Vincent discuss the finding of immunity to Cas9 protein in humans, and a potential role for an oral bacterium in Alzheimer's disease.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email.Get the entire ASM Podcast Network via our Microbeworld app.

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode

Immunity to Cas9 protein in humans (Nat Med)
P. gingivalis and Alzheimer's disease (Science)
Clinical trial of COR388 in AD patients (clinicaltrials.gov)
TWiM Listener survey

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

194: Standard imperial procedure Feb 14, 2019

Show notes

Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter

How a bacterium helps dengue virus replicate in the mosquito gut, and minicells as a damage disposal mechanism in E. coli.

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links:

Please take the TWiM listener survey
Bacteria help dengue virus in mosquito gut (Cell Host Micr)
Fungus helps dengue virus in mosquito gut (TWiV 479)
Minicells for disposal of damaged goods (mSphere)
TWiM Listener survey

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Become a Patron of TWiM!

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

193: Persisters Jan 31, 2019

Show notes

The TWiM team explore how Lactobacillus reuteri can rescue social deficits in three mouse models of autism spectrum disorder, and the role of Salmonella persisters in undermining host defenses during antibiotic treatment.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email.

Become a Patron of TWiM!

Please take the
TWiM listener surveyBacteria alter behavior in mouse autism models (Neuron)
Mice behaving badly (TWiM 131)
Salmonella persisters undermine host immune defenses (Science)
Persister cells (Ann Rev Microbiol)

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

192: A Qtip for phages Jan 18, 2019

Show notes

The TWiM team reveals an extremely low rate of mutation in a 2500 year old, 185 acre fungus in Michigan, and how a host-produced quorum sensing autoinducer controls the phage switch between lysis and lysogeny.

Please take the TWiM listener survey
Vote for NJ State Microbe
Huge fungus is 2500 years old (Proc Roy Soc B)
Humongous fungus (Wikipedia)
Host-produced autoinducer controls phage (Cell)
These bacteria are bugged (virology blog)

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Become a Patron of TWiM!

Links for this episode

Please take the TWiM listener survey
Vote for NJ State Microbe
Huge fungus is 2500 years old (Proc Roy Soc B)
Humongous fungus (Wikipedia)
Host-produced autoinducer controls phage (Cell)
These bacteria are bugged (virology blog)L

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

191: By the pulp of their teeth Dec 21, 2018

Show notes

The TWiM team reveals the oldest human plague from 4,900 years ago in Sweden, and engineering E. coli to become an endosymbiont in yeast, modeling the evolution of mitochondria.

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

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Get the entire ASM Podcast Network via our Microbeworld app.

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode

Oldest human plague from 4,900 years ago (PNAS)
Engineering yeast endosymbionts (PNAS)
Letters read on TWiM 191
TWiM Listener survey

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

190: Exosomes in your nose and in your gut Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

The TWiM-opods consider two stories about exosomes, vesicles that are shed from cells: those that eliminate airway pathogens, and those from the plants we eat that shape our gut microbiome.

Hosts:

Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Get the entire ASM Podcast Network via our Microbeworld app.

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode

Exosome swarms eliminate airway pathogens (J Aller Clin Immunol)
Exosome release from Bacteria, Eukaryotes, Archaea (Infect Immun)
Plant exosomes shape gut microbiome (Cell Host Microbe)
Image credit
Subscribe to MicrobeTV on YouTube
TWiM Listener survey

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

189: Salmonella BonJovi Nov 16, 2018

Show notes

The TWiM team considers the state of the world's fungi as revealed by a report from the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, and how Salmonella loses motility to evade host defenses.

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

Take our listener survey. Thanks! asm.org/twimpoll

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Become a Patron of TWiM!

Links for this episode:

Subscribe to MicrobeTV on YouTube
State of the World's Fungi 2018
Salmonella loses motility to avoid inflammasome activation (Cell Rep)

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

188: Turducken antibiotics Oct 31, 2018

Show notes

The TWiM rock stars show how to modify gram-positive antibiotics so they can kill gram-negative cells, and bacteria that have both DNA and RNA in their genome.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Michael Schmidt

Links for this episode

Antibiotics for gram-positives that kill gram-negatives (J Med Chem)
Sideromycin commentary (Am Council Sci Health)
Bacterial genome with DNA and RNA (J Am Chem Soc)

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Get the entire ASM Podcast Network via our Microbeworld app.

Become a patron of TWiM.

187: Rounding up the bees Oct 19, 2018

Show notes

The TWiM people reveal that phages must cooperate to overcome CRISPR-Cas defenses, and the effect of the herbicide glyphosate on the gut microbiome of honey bees.

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

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Become a Patron of TWiM!

Links for this episode:

Phages Cooperate to Overcome CRISPR-Cas Immunity (Cell)
Glyphosate perturbs gut microbiota of honey bees (PNAS)
Letters read on TWiM 187

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected