BacterioFiles 257 - Phage Fibers Fight Phyllosphere Foes

Bacteria-killing tail fibers
Hockett et al. 2015

This episode: Bacteria have repeatedly captured and used the tails of phages to fight each other!
Download Episode (9 MB, 9.8 minutes)

Show notes:
Journal Paper:
Hockett KL, Renner T, Baltrus DA. 2015. Independent Co-Option of a Tailed Bacteriophage into a Killing Complex in Pseudomonas. mBio 6:e00452-15.

Other interesting stories:

Bacterial immune system can make plants resistant to viruses

Viruses are (usually) tiny but interesting

Gut microbes may have surprising effects on our behavior

Engineering viruses to use quantum effects for better solar cells

Probiotic bacteria could help with Type 2 diabetes (paper)

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or Facebook

BacterioFiles 256 - Virus Versus Virus

This episode: Viruses can cause host cells to inhibit other viruses!
Download Episode (8 MB, 8.75 minutes)

Show notes:
Journal Paper:
Chiba S, Suzuki N. 2015. Highly activated RNA silencing via strong induction of dicer by one virus can interfere with the replication of an unrelated virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112:E4911–E4918.

Other interesting stories:

Rotating crops helps maintain healthy soil microbe communities

Phages can control contamination in biofuel fermentation (paper)

Bacteria actually living in wheat plants affect sourdough bread (paper)

Fecal transplants of communities can overcome most drug-resistant infections

Finding bacteria that can help plants grow (paper)

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or Facebook

BacterioFiles 255 - Colonizer Controls Carrier Cultivation

Amoeba spores with bacteria inside
DiSalvo et al. 2015

This episode: Some bacteria seem to cause slime mold amoebas to carry around other bacteria for food!
Download Episode (12.4 MB, 13.5 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
DiSalvo S, Haselkorn TS, Bashir U, Jimenez D, Brock DA, Queller DC, Strassmann JE. 2015. Burkholderia bacteria infectiously induce the proto-farming symbiosis of Dictyostelium amoebae and food bacteria. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112:E5029–E5037.

Other interesting stories:

Fish oil vs. lard affect gut microbes differently

Engineered mix of engineered bacteria produce controlled oscillations

Mutation and selection makes better biomass-degrading enzymes

Antibodies can be produced inside bacteria (paper)

Fungus can be used to kill mosquitoes (paper)

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or Facebook

BacterioFiles 254 - Clostridium Consolidates Combustibles Conversion

This episode: Engineering bacteria to convert cellulose directly into useful biofuels and chemicals can be tricky!
Download Episode (13.9 MB, 15.2 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Lin PP, Mi L, Morioka AH, Yoshino KM, Konishi S, Xu SC, Papanek BA, Riley LA, Guss AM, Liao JC. 2015. Consolidated bioprocessing of cellulose to isobutanol using Clostridium thermocellum. Metab Eng 31:44–52.

Other interesting stories:

Cute photosynthetic protist could do interesting metabolic processes

Using advanced technique to link antibiotic production to specific beewolf microbes

Termite gut protist has bacterial symbiont that fixes carbon and nitrogen (paper)

Geography and household members influence fungi and bacteria of home dust

Probiotic ineffective at preventing colonization by drug-resistant pathogens

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or Facebook