This Week in Microbiology

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346: Metabolism and Porin Permeability Dec 13, 2025

Show notes

TWiM explains how competition for nutrients anticipates and potentially mitigate drug side effects on the gut microbiota, and metabolic control of porin permeability influences antibiotic resistance.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt and Petra Levin

Guest: Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode:

Nutrient competition predicts drug effects on microbiota (Cell)
Metabolic control of porin permeability influences antibiotic resistance in E coli (Nat Micro)
Santiago Cano-Muniz

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

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345: Faster Than Rocks! Nov 22, 2025

Show notes

TWiM explains a biological mechanism that links sulfur and iron cycling in anoxic environments, and "swashing," a form of surface movement in which bacteria migrate without active propulsion.

Hosts: Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin

Guest: Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode

Sulfur and iron cycling in anoxic environments (Nature)
Bacterial surface migration by swashing (J Bacteriol)

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Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.

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

344: Ant Yogurt and Fine Chocolate Nov 08, 2025

Show notes

TWiM reveals the bacteria, acids, and enzymes behind yogurt made with ants, and a defined set of microbes that reproduces attributes of fine flavor chocolate fermentation

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin

Guest: Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode:

Making yogurt with ants (iScience)
The Alchemist Restaurant
How to make classic tuiles (MasterClass)
Defined microbes for chocolate (Nat Micro)
Microbial chocolatiers of fine flavour (Nat Micro)
Blind taste every chocolate bar (YouTube)

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

343: Nucleotides to the Defense Oct 25, 2025

Show notes

TWiM explores two different ways that bacteria defend against phages through the synthesis of cyclic nucleotides.

Hosts: Michael Schmidt and Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode:

Decoy cyclic nucleotides in phage defense (Nature)
CRISPR defense with nucleotides (Nature)
A decoy defence molecule to set a trap for viruses (Nature)
Cyclic oligonucleotide-based antiphage signaling system immunity (Curr Opin Immunol)

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

342: The Microbiome, Pancreatic Cancer, and Sleep Quality Oct 11, 2025

Show notes

TWiM explains studies that show that the oral bacterial and fungal microbiome are risk factors for pancreatic cancer, and the gut microbiome and pyruvate metabolism of older adults are a link between sleep quality and frailty.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Android, RSS, or by email.

Become a patron of TWiM.

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

Links for this episode

Oral microbiome and pancreatic cancer risk (JAMA Oncol)
2025 Cancer Facts & Figures (ACS)
Periodontal Disease: The Good, The Bad, and The Unknown (Front Cell Infect Micro)
Socransky's disease complexes (Microorg)
Microbiome, pyruvate metabolism, sleep quality, and frailty (Cell Rep)
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (pdf)
How to score the sleep quality index (pdf)
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341: Sea Star Wasting Disease Sep 27, 2025

Show notes

TWiM reveals a Vibrio as the causative agent of sea star wasting disease, and using microcolony-seq to uncover phenotypic inheritance from single cells.

Hosts: Michael Schmidt and Michele Swanson

Guest: Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode:

Agent of sea star wasting disease (Nat Ecol Evol)
Sea star wasting mystery solved (Nat Ecol Evol)
Phenotypic inheritance from single cells (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

340: Microbes in Trees and Plants Sep 12, 2025

Show notes

TWiM explores the varied and distinct microbiome of trees, and an array of biopesticidal metabolites against mosquito larvae isolated from a Mediterranean island.

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Links for this episode:

Microbiome of trees (Nature)
Biopesticides from a Mediterranean island (Appl Environ 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

339: Missing the Company of Elio Aug 29, 2025

Show notes

TWiM pays tribute to Elio Schaechter, former TWiM host, blogger, and microbiologist extraordinaire, then reviews the finding that Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria - a form of competition.

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

Guest Mark O. Martin.

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

Links for this episode

Elio Schaechter (Wikipedia)
Elio Schaechter Funeral Service (video)
Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria (PLoS Biol)
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Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

338: Rewriting the Code of Life Aug 16, 2025

Show notes

TWiM discusses outbreak of Legionnaires disease in Harlem NY, an automated whole genome sequencing platform for bacterial strain typing in clinical microbiology laboratories, building E. coli with a 57-codon genetic code.

Links for this episode

Legionnaires' disease outbreak in NY (NY Health)
Automated whole genome sequencing for clinical labs (J Clin Micro)
Sequencing workflow for outbreaks (J Clin Micro)
Rewriting code of life (NYTimes)
E. coli with a 57-codon genetic code (Science)
E. coli with one stop codon (TWiM 330)

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

337: Lifestyles of the Plasmids Jul 31, 2025

Show notes

TWiM explains a study that examines pathogen presence in ancient humans and concludes that zoonoses emerged 6500 years ago with the domestication of livestock, and determination of universal rules that govern plasmid copy number.

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

Guests: Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode: