This Week in Microbiology

Latest Episodes:

286: Integrons and Invasion May 05, 2023

Show notes

TWiM reveals environmental integrons, bacterial genetic elements notorious for their role in spreading antibiotic resistance, and how Salmonella invasion is controlled by competition among intestinal chemical signals.

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

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode

Environmental integrons (Trends Micro)
Integrons: agents of bacterial evolution (Nat Rev Micro)
Rethinking microbial infallibility in the metagenomics era (Fems Micro

Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.

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

285: How Plague Got Deadly Apr 23, 2023

Show notes

TWiM reveals a new type of satellite virus that requires only phage tails for producing infectious virus particles, and that highly virulent plague bacteria differs from its innocuous enteric predecessor by its resistance to lysis by human complement.

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

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode

Viruses that steal bacteriophage tails (Cell Host Microbe)
Y. pestis not susceptible to human complement (Appl Environ Micro)
How Y. pestis got its pathogenic groove (Appl Environ Micro)
Risks of another pandemic (TedEd)
Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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

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

284: Flies, Pigs, and Squid Apr 08, 2023

Show notes

TWiM reveals housefly dispersal of antimicrobial resistant bacteria, and a reproductive organ in squid linked to symbiotic bacteria.

Become a patron of TWiM

Links for this episode

Housefly dispersal of antimicrobial resistant E. coli (Appl Micro Int)
Antibiotic use in farming (Nature)
Antimicrobial use in food producing animals (PLoS Glob Pub Health)
Reproductive organ linked to symbiotic bacteria (mBio)
Skype a Scientist
Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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

283: Quorum Sensing In The Gut Mar 24, 2023

Show notes

TWiM reveals quorum-sensing systems that regulate intestinal inflammation and permeability caused by P. aeruginosa, and how plasmids manipulate bacterial behavior through translational regulatory crosstalk.

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

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode

Quorum-sensing in the intestine (mBio)
Block quorum sensing, block biofilm (Antimicrob Agents Chemother)
Plasmids manipulate bacterial behavior (PLoS Biol)
Regulatory genes associated with integrative conjugative elements (J Bact)
Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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

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

282: At-home evolution with yeast Mar 10, 2023

Show notes

TWiM presents a protocol for evolving caffeine-tolerant yeast by high school students in the home, and how predator-prey dynamics change when multiple bacteria grow together in biofilms.

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

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode

Caffeine-tolerant yeast selected at home (microPub Biology)
yEvo Lab
Vision and change in undergraduate biology (NAS)
CURE in a box (JMBE)
EvolvingStem
EvolvingStem: Evolution-in-action curriculum (BMC)
Spatial ecology of predation (PNAS)
Predatory bacteria: From curiosity to curative (Trends Micro)
Combating antimicrobial resistance with predatory Bdellovibrio (YouTube)
Bdellovibrio attacking E.coli (YouTube)
From one, many (YouTube)
Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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

281: Microbes Making Jet Fuel Feb 17, 2023

Show notes

TWiM explains the synthesis in bacteria of new energy-dense biofuels that can replace rocket and jet fuels, and the use of nanopore sequencing to improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with serious infections.

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode:

Biosynthesis of high energy biofuels (Joule)
Polyketide synthases in bacteria (PNAS)
Sequencing for diagnosis of serious infections (mBio)
Nanopore sequencing video (YouTube)
Emerging human pathogen Kodamaea ohmeri (Front. 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

280: They Forget To Divide Jan 28, 2023

Show notes

TWiM explains how magnesium modulates cell division frequency of a soil bacillus, and killing of fungi by Acinetobacter baumannii via a Type VI DNase Effector.

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

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

Become a Patron of TWiM!

Links for this episode:

•Magnesium modulates cell division frequency (J Bacteriol) •A. baumannii kills fungi (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

279: A Road Map For Successful Phage Therapy Jan 13, 2023

Show notes

TWiM describes successful phage therapy against a mycobacterial lung infection, and how encapsulation of the cell wall protects S. pneumoniae from its major peptidoglycan hydrolase and host defenses.

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode:

Phage therapy against M. abscessus lung infection (Cell)
Encapsulation of the septal cell wall protects S. pneumoniae from host defenses (PLoS Path)
Letters read on TWiM 279

Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.

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

278: Bacteria Sing The Blues Dec 29, 2022

Show notes

TWiM explores the relationship between the gut microbiome and depressive symptoms, and how purine nucleotides act as adjuvants to antibiotics.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson

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

Become a Patron of TWiM!

Links for this episode:

Gut microbiota and depressive symptoms one and two (Nat Commun )
Microbiome influences depression (Phys.org)
Gut bacteria and depression (Med Press)
Mice behaving badly (TWiM 131)
Gut microbiome in ASD (Front Cell Inf Micro)
Transferring the blues (J Psych Res)
Nucleotides as adjuvants to antibiotics (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

277: To Stop or Not To Stop Dec 08, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of TWiM, we reveal widespread stop-codon recoding in bacteriophages that may regulate translation of lytic genes, and how Staphylococcus aureus inhibits Pseudomonas aeruginosa growth.

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

Become a patron of TWiM.

Links for this episode

Stop codon recoding in bacteriophages (Nat Micro)
How S. aureus inhibits P. aeruginosa growth (J Bact)
S. aureus small colony variants (Front Cell Infect Micro)
Ken Timmis retires as journal editor (YouTube)
Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected