BacterioFiles 326 - Ciliate Symbionts Selected Separately

Euplotes ciliates

This episode: Learning about endosymbionts by comparing bacteria living inside eukaryotes to their free-living cousins!

Thanks to Dr. Vittorio Boscaro for his contribution!
Download Episode (9.7 MB, 10.6 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Ancalochloris perfilievii

Journal Paper:
Boscaro V, Kolisko M, Felletti M, Vannini C, Lynn DH, Keeling PJ. 2017. Parallel genome reduction in symbionts descended from closely related free-living bacteria. Nat Ecol Evol 1:1160.

Other interesting stories:

Wolbachia naturally found in mosquitoes inhibits malaria transmission (paper)

Group of 5 microbes help regulate Hydra's body contractions

In mice, fungi can function somewhat in place of gut bacteria (paper)

Bacteriophages get carried all over the body

Bacteria engineered to make boron-carbon bonds

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 325 - Moisture Mobilizes Mycelium Multiples

Mushroom spore print

This episode: Figuring out how mushrooms launch their spores out using a trick of water surface tension!

Download Episode (6.7 MB, 7.3 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Carrot torradovirus 1

News item

Video of artificial "spore" launching

Journal Paper:
Liu F, Chavez RL, Patek SN, Pringle A, Feng JJ, Chen C-H. 2017. Asymmetric drop coalescence launches fungal ballistospores with directionality. J R Soc Interface 14:20170083.

Other interesting stories:

Bacteriophage also inhibits fungal pathogen (paper)

Virus infects both plant and fungus (paper)

Gut interactions between bacteria and salt - also this

Bacteria can transform toxic metals into less harmful forms (paper)

Microbes generating electricity from swine wastewater

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 324 - Prokaryote Prefers Poorer Power

Green Dragon Spring, Yellowstone
Credit: National Park Service

This episode: Hot spring archaea prefer to use elements that give them less energy even when more energetic options are available!

Download Episode (8.1 MB, 8.8 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Vitreoscilla beggiatoides

News item

Journal Paper:
Amenabar MJ, Shock EL, Roden EE, Peters JW, Boyd ES. 2017. Microbial substrate preference dictated by energy demand rather than supply. Nat Geosci 10:577–581.

Other interesting stories:

Developing good methods for using skin microbiome for forensics (paper)

Microbe discovered that consumes groundwater contaminant dioxane

Mucus-eating gut microbes can produce beneficial nutrients and vitamins (paper)

Making new beer and wine flavors with different yeast

Providing leaf microbiota to help endangered plants survive in wild

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 323 - Clostridium Capturing Carbon with Walter Sandoval

Walter Sandoval in lab

This episode: I talk with Dr. Walter Sandoval-Espinola, a researcher from Paraguay, now a postdoc at Harvard, about his discovery that biofuel-producing bacteria Clostridium beijerinckii can also transform CO₂ and carbon monoxide into biofuels!

Download Episode (37 MB, 40.4 minutes)

Show notes:
News item en español

Find Walter on Twitter or LinkedIn

Journal Paper:
Sandoval-Espinola WJ, Chinn MS, Thon MR, Bruno-Bárcena JM. 2017. Evidence of mixotrophic carbon-capture by n-butanol-producer Clostridium beijerinckii. Sci Rep 7:12759.

Other interesting stories:

Even microbes can help mix up lake water

Using drones to sample whale microbiome

Prebiotics could affect gut even without microbe involvement (paper)

Bacteria do better in changing environments when they cooperate

Newly discovered bacterial defense against phages (paper)

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

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BacterioFiles 322 - Parents' Partners Protect Plants

Cacao tree with fruit pods
By Luisovalles
Own work, CC BY 3.0

Happy New Year! This episode: Fungal endophytes transferred from healthy adult plant leaf litter help baby cacao plants resist disease!

Thanks to Dr. Natalie Christian for her contribution!

Download Episode (10.3 MB, 11.25 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Lactobacillus virus Lb338-1

News item
Hear a CBC interview with Dr. Christian about this research

Journal Paper:
Christian N, Herre EA, Mejia LC, Clay K. 2017. Exposure to the leaf litter microbiome of healthy adults protects seedlings from pathogen damage. Proc R Soc B 284:20170641.

Other interesting stories:

Using bacteria to clean up radioactive strontium from water (paper)

Ocean bacteria make themselves slippery instead of sticky to avoid predators (paper)

Which plants grow in tropics depends on how fungi interact with their seeds

Using an antibiotic-sensing protein to control antibiotic production in bacteria

Symbiotic fungi can help plants tolerate stresses better

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

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Episode outline: