BacterioFiles 270 - Bacteria Block Bug Babies

Thrips, with fluorescent gut bacteria
Credit: Miranda Whitten

This episode: Insect gut microbes can be engineered to act as birth control, population control, or disease control for bugs!
Download Episode (13.3 MB, 14.5 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

This Week in Parasitism episode about Trypanosoma
Unedited statement about this paper from Professor Dyson

Journal Paper:
Whitten MMA, Facey PD, Sol RD, Fernández-Martínez LT, Evans MC, Mitchell JJ, Bodger OG, Dyson PJ. 2016. Symbiont-mediated RNA interference in insects. Proc R Soc B 283:20160042.

Other interesting stories:

Various different yeasts help make coffee and chocolate

Maybe treating endangered animals for parasites is not a good idea

Empty virus could be useful for carrying things to specific places

Fungus treatment could help make more environment-friendly fiberboard (paper)

Algae can count how many times they've divided

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