New Year

Happy New Year, may all your microbes be happy and good!

BacterioFiles 367 - Migrating Modifies Microbiota

Konjac root vegetable
By: Sebastian Stabinger
CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: Women who immigrated to the US from southeast Asia lost much of their gut microbiota diversity, resulting in a microbe community similar to the typical American!

Takeaways
Our gut microbiota, the community of microbes in our gastrointestinal tract, is associated with many aspects of health, including weight. People living in less industrialized places often have a greater diversity of microbes in their gut communities than those living in more industrialized nations.

In this study, when women from Thailand immigrated to the US or were born of such immigrants in the US, their gut microbe communities soon came to resemble those of Americans of European descent, with lower diversity of species. They also tended to gain weight.

However, the diets of these immigrants and children of immigrants didn't resemble the typical American diet as closely as one might expect, suggesting that there may be other factors affecting the gut community of these women.

Download Episode (9.3 MB, 10.2 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Pseudomonas anguilliseptica

News item

Journal Paper:
Vangay P, Johnson AJ, Ward TL, Al-Ghalith GA, Shields-Cutler RR, Hillmann BM, Lucas SK, Beura LK, Thompson EA, Till LM, Batres R, Paw B, Pergament SL, Saenyakul P, Xiong M, Kim AD, Kim G, Masopust D, Martens EC, Angkurawaranon C, McGready R, Kashyap PC, Culhane-Pera KA, Knights D. 2018. US Immigration Westernizes the Human Gut Microbiome. Cell 175:962-972.e10.

Other interesting stories:

• Soil archaea help plants resist pathogenic microbes (paper)
• Engineering bacteria to evolve more heat-stable proteins with unusual amino acids
• Anemones and clown fish live together and also share microbes

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

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BacterioFiles 366 - Globules Get Garbage Gone

By: Rang et al, 2018
mSphere 3:e00428-18

This episode: Bacteria rid themselves of burdensome waste by ejecting it inside little pieces of their own cell, called minicells!


Download Episode (10.8 MB, 11.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Cacao yellow mosaic virus

News item

Journal Papers:
Rang CU, Proenca A, Buetz C, Shi C, Chao L. 2018. Minicells as a Damage Disposal Mechanism in Escherichia coli. mSphere 3:e00428-18.

Other interesting stories:

• Gut microbe can help protect mice from colon cancer (paper)
• Microbes living in super-dry desert couldn't survive excess rains

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 365 - Saccharomycopsis Cells Slay Sickeners

Predator attacking prey with
penetration peg
By: Junker et al. 2018 Sci Rep 8
CC BY 4.0

This episode: Dr. Klara Junker joins me to discuss her work on the predatory yeast Saccharomycopsis schoenii that can kill the serious pathogenic yeast Candida auris!


Download Episode (11.0 MB, 12.0 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Lambdapapillomavirus 5

Movies of Saccharomycopsis attacking other yeasts

Journal Papers:
Junker K, Bravo Ruiz G, Lorenz A, Walker L, Gow NAR, Wendland J. 2018. The mycoparasitic yeast Saccharomycopsis schoenii predates and kills multi-drug resistant Candida auris. Sci Rep 8:14959.

Other interesting stories:

• Studying which microbes grow well on different gravestones
• Certain fiber-digesting bacteria in mouse gut correlate with less artery disease

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

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BacterioFiles 364 - Polyproteins Promote Producing Pabulum

Nitrogenase enzyme
By Jjsjjsjjs - Own work,
CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: Engineering other organisms to fix nitrogen by combining the required enzyme components into giant proteins that then get cut into the regular-sized subunit components!


Download Episode (10.5 MB, 11.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Blastochloris sulfoviridis

Journal commentary (paywall)

Journal Papers:
Yang J, Xie X, Xiang N, Tian Z-X, Dixon R, Wang Y-P. 2018. Polyprotein strategy for stoichiometric assembly of nitrogen fixation components for synthetic biology. Proc Natl Acad Sci 115:E8509–E8517.

Other interesting stories:

• How the human microbiota recovers after antibiotic treatment

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 363 - Tiny Treasure Tunnels

Tunnels in garnet
By: Ivarsson et al. 2018,
PLoS ONE 13(8):e0200351
CC BY 4.0

This episode: Intricate networks of tunnels in garnet gemstones seem to have come from tunneling microorganisms!

Thanks to Magnus Ivarsson for his contribution!

Download Episode (5.4 MB, 5.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces griseosporeus

News item

Journal Papers:
Ivarsson M, Skogby H, Phichaikamjornwut B, Bengtson S, Siljeström S, Ounchanum P, Boonsoong A, Kruachanta M, Marone F, Belivanova V, Holmström S. 2018. Intricate tunnels in garnets from soils and river sediments in Thailand – Possible endolithic microborings. PLOS ONE 13:e0200351.

Other interesting stories:

• Swimming algae can move through bloodstream to deliver drugs
• Mosquito microbes engineered to inhibit spread of malaria (paper)
• A probiotic inhibits a pathogen by interfering with its signaling between cells
• Healthy microbiota seems important for mice recovering from heart attack

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 362 - Combining Chromosomes

Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast

This episode: Combining all 16 of yeast's chromosomes into one or two only impairs their growth slightly in the lab, but it prevents them from successful mating with wild yeasts!

Download Episode (12.4 MB, 13.6 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Vibrio succinogenes

News item 1/News item 2

Journal Papers:
Luo J, Sun X, Cormack BP, Boeke JD. 2018. Karyotype engineering by chromosome fusion leads to reproductive isolation in yeast. Nature 560:392–396.
Shao Y, Lu N, Wu Z, Cai C, Wang S, Zhang L-L, Zhou F, Xiao S, Liu L, Zeng X, Zheng H, Yang C, Zhao Z, Zhao G, Zhou J-Q, Xue X, Qin Z. 2018. Creating a functional single-chromosome yeast. Nature 560:331–335.

Other interesting stories:

• Treating Salmonella infection with phages plus gut microbiota works better together (paper)
• Bioreactor fermentation strategy allows efficient vitamin K production

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 361 - Figuring Fungus's Forcing Fly Functions

Fruit fly infected with fungus
By Elya et al 2018;7:e34414

This episode: Bringing a fungus that makes zombie flies into the lab makes a good model for studying microbial mind-control!

Thanks to Dr. Carolyn Elya for her contribution!
Download Episode (12.1 MB, 13.25 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Dipteran brevidensovirus 2

News item

Videos of fly fungus infection progression

Journal Papers:
Elya C, Lok TC, Spencer QE, McCausland H, Martinez CC, Eisen M. 2018. Robust manipulation of the behavior of Drosophila melanogaster by a fungal pathogen in the laboratory. eLife 7:e34414.

Other interesting stories:

• Bacteria from coal mining areas could help pollution-cleaning plants grow in those areas (paper)
• Bacteria in photosynthetic family found living deep inside rocks

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 360 - Fellow Phages Fight Fortifications

Bacteriophage
By Rolf Lood, Matthias Mörgelin,
Anna Holmberg, Magnus Rasmussen
and Mattias Collin
BMC Microbiology 2008,
8:139 doi:10.1186/1471-2180-8-139
CC BY 2.5

This episode: Bacteriophages with defenses against bacterial CRISPR defenses have to work together to succeed!

Thanks to Drs. Edze Westra and Stineke van Houte for their contributions, and to Calvin Cornell for suggesting this story!
Download Episode (9.6 MB, 10.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Lactobacillus casei subsp. alactosus

News item 1/News item 2

Journal Papers:
Borges AL, Zhang JY, Rollins MF, Osuna BA, Wiedenheft B, Bondy-Denomy J. 2018. Bacteriophage Cooperation Suppresses CRISPR-Cas3 and Cas9 Immunity. Cell 174:917-925.e10.

Landsberger M, Gandon S, Meaden S, Rollie C, Chevallereau A, Chabas H, Buckling A, Westra ER, Houte S van. 2018. Anti-CRISPR Phages Cooperate to Overcome CRISPR-Cas Immunity. Cell 174:908-916.e12.

Other interesting stories:

• Aphids can see fluorescence from pathogenic bacteria to avoid them on leaves
• Fecal transplants from yourself before antibiotics could restore gut community after antibiotics
• Engineering E. coli to convert CO₂ and methanol into useful products (paper)
• Used panel of bioluminescent bacteria to test artificial sweetener toxicity

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 359 - Prokaryotes Provoke Perpendicular Punishment

Strain resistant to toxin
quickly takes over colony
By Despoina Mavridou

This episode: Some bacteria produce DNA-targeting toxins, which provokes a similar retaliation from other strains. Sometimes this hurts the provoker, but sometimes it is very helpful to them!

Thanks to Dr. Despoina Mavridou for her contribution!
Download Episode (7.9 MB, 8.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Mycobacterium virus Athena

News item

Journal Paper:
Gonzalez D, Sabnis A, Foster KR, Mavridou DAI. 2018. Costs and benefits of provocation in bacterial warfare. Proc Natl Acad Sci 115:7593–7598.

Other interesting stories:

• Bacteria could help plants tolerate salt better
• Galapagos vampire finch has unusual gut microbes (paper)
• Using engineered luminescent phages for rapid detection of bacteria

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

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Episode outline:

State Fair

Last interruption for a while: I was participating in the NC State Fair all weekend. It was fun and there were even microbe exhibits there! Though mostly ones encouraging hand-washing.

BacterioFiles 358 - elegans Endures Edifying Enterococcus

Caenorhabditis elegans
By Bob Goldstein, UNC Chapel Hill
Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: Roundworms and not-too-irritating bacteria quickly evolve a beneficial relationship when under threat from other bacterial pathogens!
Download Episode (7.5 MB, 8.1 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Siegesbeckia yellow vein betasatellite

News item

Journal Paper:
Rafaluk‐Mohr C, Ashby B, Dahan DA, King KC. 2018. Mutual fitness benefits arise during coevolution in a nematode-defensive microbe model. Evol Lett 2:246–256.

Other interesting stories:

• Phages can hide in bacterial spores and attack when the bacteria revive (paper)
• Probiotics seemed to increase risk in mice from gut parasite
• Studying the value of using probiotics before or after antibiotics
• More microbes than realized, even in gut, may be able to generate electricity
• Magnetotactic bacteria are really cool

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

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Episode outline:

No episode this week

Family event this weekend, so I didn't have time to get an episode up. See you next week!

BacterioFiles 357 - Colossal Contagion Codes Catabolism

Tetraselmis alga
By: David Patterson and
Bob Andersen, CC BY-NC 3.0

This episode: A new giant virus infecting marine algae brings its own genes related to fermentation, generating energy in the absence of oxygen!

Thanks to Drs. Chris Schvarcz and Grieg Steward for their contributions!

Download Episode (14 MB, 15.25 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Borrelia anserina

News item

Journal Paper:
Schvarcz CR, Steward GF. 2018. A giant virus infecting green algae encodes key fermentation genes. Virology 518:423–433.

Other interesting stories:

• Plant virus influences aphid nutrition and population growth
• Hosts can benefit from E. coli iron-gathering proteins
• Fog can sustain and transport microbes long distances
• Using bacteriophages to form useful nanostructures out of gold

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 356 - Beams Boost Bolstered Bacteria

Nanomaterial-enhanced
tumor-targeting bacterium
From: Zheng et al. 2018,
Nat Commun 9:1680

This episode: Combining cells with light-absorbing nanomaterials can help tumor-targeting bacteria produce more anticancer compound!

Download Episode (10.4 MB, 11.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Maruca vitrata nucleopolyhedrovirus

Here's a paper I found that actually shows carbon dot nanomaterials enhancing bacterial nitrogen fixation

Journal Paper:
Zheng D-W, Chen Y, Li Z-H, Xu L, Li C-X, Li B, Fan J-X, Cheng S-X, Zhang X-Z. 2018. Optically-controlled bacterial metabolite for cancer therapy. Nat Commun 9:1680.

Other interesting stories:

• Viruses infect marine algae, which release shells into air and affect clouds

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

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Episode outline:

Hurricane Florence

No episode this week, thanks to Hurricane Florence. I'm ok though and will be back next week! Everyone stay safe.

BacterioFiles 355 - Photon Factors Favor Fancy Fuels

Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast

This episode: Engineering yeast to control their metabolism using light and dark for the production of advanced biofuels and chemicals!

Download Episode (16.1 MB, 17.7 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Equine arteritis virus

News item

Journal Paper:
Zhao EM, Zhang Y, Mehl J, Park H, Lalwani MA, Toettcher JE, Avalos JL. 2018. Optogenetic regulation of engineered cellular metabolism for microbial chemical production. Nature 555:683–687.

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 354 - Prokaryote Protection Promotes Protein Passing

Pectobacterium cells
By: The James Hutton Institute

This episode: The bacterial immune system, CRISPR-Cas, can enhance gene transfer via transduction (phages carrying bacteria DNA) despite preventing it via conjugation!

Thanks to Bridget Watson for her contribution!

Download Episode (14.9 MB, 16.3 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Human polyomavirus 8

Journal Paper:
Watson BNJ, Staals RHJ, Fineran PC. 2018. CRISPR-Cas-Mediated Phage Resistance Enhances Horizontal Gene Transfer by Transduction. mBio 9:e02406-17.

Other interesting stories:

• Using yeast in packets to measure exposure to radiation
• Light-controlled swimming bacteria can be shaped into complex patterns
• Special bacteria could help people lacking an enzyme avoid food toxicity

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 353 - Pathogen Prevents Pathogen Pervasion

Streptococcus (green) and
Staphylococcus (red)
together in biofilm.
By: Reddinger et al, 2018, mBio

This episode: Some bacteria that can cause pneumonia can prevent other bacteria from doing the same!

Download Episode (9.6 MB, 10.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Bell pepper mottle virus

Journal Paper:
Reddinger RM, Luke-Marshall NR, Sauberan SL, Hakansson AP, Campagnari AA. 2018. Streptococcus pneumoniae Modulates Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm Dispersion and the Transition from Colonization to Invasive Disease. mBio 9:e02089-17.

Other interesting stories:

• Trying to get plants and beneficial microbes to work together better
• Unusual strain of corn cultivates bacteria that fix nitrogen for it
• Cool protozoan has super speedy body contraction

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 352 - Staphylococcus Stops Skin Swellings

Staphylococcus epidermidis

This episode: A harmless strain of bacteria on the skin produces a compound that can prevent tumors from forming!

Download Episode (9.2 MB, 10 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Hamiltonella virus APSE1

News item

Journal Paper:
Nakatsuji T, Chen TH, Butcher AM, Trzoss LL, Nam S-J, Shirakawa KT, Zhou W, Oh J, Otto M, Fenical W, Gallo RL. 2018. A commensal strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis protects against skin neoplasia. Sci Adv 4:eaao4502.

Other interesting stories:

• Eating crickets could be good for your gut microbes
• Even probiotic bacteria could cause problems if they overgrow

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 351 - Tupanvirus Transports Translation Tools

Tupanvirus pictures
From: Abrahão et al,
2018, Nat Commun 9:749

This episode: A new giant virus has genes for a surprisingly complete system of protein synthesis!

Download Episode (10.1 MB, 11.1 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Phocid alphaherpesvirus 1

Video of tupanvirus intracellular factory

Journal Paper:
Abrahão J, Silva L, Silva LS, Khalil JYB, Rodrigues R, Arantes T, Assis F, Boratto P, Andrade M, Kroon EG, Ribeiro B, Bergier I, Seligmann H, Ghigo E, Colson P, Levasseur A, Kroemer G, Raoult D, La Scola B. 2018. Tailed giant Tupanvirus possesses the most complete translational apparatus of the known virosphere. Nat Commun 9:749.

Other interesting stories:

• Gut microbes can help with the healthy effects of berries (paper)
• Leaf microbes can protect plants from pathogens, at least when plants aren't fertilized
• Exploring the microbes living on an 18th century mummy (paper)

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 350 - Microbes Mysteriously Make Methane

Nitrogenase protein structure
By Jjsjjsjjs - Own work
CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: A version of the microbial enzyme that fixes nitrogen can also convert carbon dioxide to methane!

Download Episode (11.8 MB, 12.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Human mastadenovirus D

Journal Paper:
Zheng Y, Harris DF, Yu Z, Fu Y, Poudel S, Ledbetter RN, Fixen KR, Yang Z-Y, Boyd ES, Lidstrom ME, Seefeldt LC, Harwood CS. 2018. A pathway for biological methane production using bacterial iron-only nitrogenase. Nat Microbiol 3:281–286.

Other interesting stories:

• Gut bacterial metabolite helps protect mice against gut pathogen

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 349 - Magnet Microbes Make Millivolts

Magnetotactic bacteria with
magnetosome chains visible
From: Edouard Alphandéry
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2014.00005

This episode: Bacteria that contain tiny magnets can generate an electric current!

Download Episode (6.8 MB, 7.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Mamastrovirus 2

Journal Paper:
Smit B.A., Van Zyl E., Joubert J.J., Meyer W., Prévéral S., Lefèvre C.T., Venter S.N. 2018. Magnetotactic bacteria used to generate electricity based on Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction. Lett Appl Microbiol 66:362–367.

Other interesting stories:

• Deep-sea fangly fishes have tight relationship with their light-producing bacteria

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 348 - Huge Host Hackers Have Historic Histones

Marseillevirus
By: Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics

This episode: Giant viruses produce DNA-packing proteins that seem to have branched off from eukaryotes far back in evolutionary history!

Download Episode (6 MB, 6.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Caulobacter maris

News item

Journal Paper:
Erives AJ. 2017. Phylogenetic analysis of the core histone doublet and DNA topo II genes of Marseilleviridae: evidence of proto-eukaryotic provenance. Epigenetics & Chromatin 10:55.

Other interesting stories:

Swimming bacteria can affect liquid viscosity, to the point of superfluidity

Tiny soil roundworms can sense and avoid pathogens by their gases

Beetle bacterium makes defensive compound with genes taken from an ocean microbe

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 347 - Adenovirus Adapter Allows Assignment

Virus and shielded virus
Schmid et al, 2018, Nat Commun

This episode: Adding adapters to anti-cancer virus helps it avoid destruction by the body so it can target the tumors!

Thanks to Dr. Andreas Plückthun for his contribution!

Download Episode (7.8 MB, 8.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Tomato leaf curl Vietnam virus

News item

Journal Paper:
Schmid M, Ernst P, Honegger A, Suomalainen M, Zimmermann M, Braun L, Stauffer S, Thom C, Dreier B, Eibauer M, Kipar A, Vogel V, Greber UF, Medalia O, Plückthun A. 2018. Adenoviral vector with shield and adapter increases tumor specificity and escapes liver and immune control. Nat Commun 9:450.

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 346 - Prokaryote Prey Plug Picoalgae

Alga (C) with bacterial prey (P)
By: Kamennaya et al,
PLOS Biol 2018

This episode: Very small ocean algae consume bacterial prey of a similar size to themselves by engulfing them only partially!

Download Episode (8.9 MB, 9.7 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Bradyrhizobium japonicum

Journal Paper:
Kamennaya NA, Kennaway G, Fuchs BM, Zubkov MV. 2018. “Pomacytosis”—Semi-extracellular phagocytosis of cyanobacteria by the smallest marine algae. PLOS Biol 16:e2003502.

Other interesting stories:

Using nanomagnets to control quorum sensing by pulling bacteria together (paper)

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 345 - Super Sonic Cell Sacs

Anabaena flos-aquae,
a source for gas vesicle genes

This episode: Protein bags of gas in bacteria could help make ultrasound imaging more versatile!

Download Episode (7.6 MB, 8.25 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Cronobacter virus Esp2949-1

News item

Journal Paper:
Bourdeau RW, Lee-Gosselin A, Lakshmanan A, Farhadi A, Kumar SR, Nety SP, Shapiro MG. 2018. Acoustic reporter genes for noninvasive imaging of microorganisms in mammalian hosts. Nature 553:86–90.

Other interesting stories:

Laxatives shown very disruptive to gut microbes in mice

Evidence not good that probiotics can reduce anxiety in people

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 344 - Bacteriophages Bypass Body Barriers

Cell culture setup
Nguyen et al, 2017,
mBio 8:e01874-17

This episode: Phages may be passing through the barriers in our body all the time!

Thanks to Dr. Jeremy Barr for his contribution!
Download Episode (13.2 MB, 14.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Rhodobacter virus RcCronus

News item

Journal Paper:
Nguyen S, Baker K, Padman BS, Patwa R, Dunstan RA, Weston TA, Schlosser K, Bailey B, Lithgow T, Lazarou M, Luque A, Rohwer F, Blumberg RS, Barr JJ. 2017. Bacteriophage Transcytosis Provides a Mechanism To Cross Epithelial Cell Layers. mBio 8:e01874-17.

Other interesting stories:

Yeast species uses same codon for two different amino acids (paper)

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 343 - Super Cells Save Susceptible Species

Deinococcus radiodurans

This episode: Very radiation-resistant bacteria can protect other, less-resistant microbes from some of the effects of chronic radiation!

Download Episode (9.7 MB, 10.6 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus CA4A

News item

Journal Paper:
Shuryak I, Matrosova VY, Gaidamakova EK, Tkavc R, Grichenko O, Klimenkova P, Volpe RP, Daly MJ. 2017. Microbial cells can cooperate to resist high-level chronic ionizing radiation. PLOS ONE 12:e0189261.

Other interesting stories:

Panda gut microbes help them detoxify cyanide in their diet (paper)

Modified probiotics can detect and inhibit cholera in baby mice

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 342 - Cyanide Stops Cell Suckers

Chromobacterium growing on agar

This episode: Some bacteria can defend themselves from bacterial predators by producing cyanide!

Thanks to Dr. Robert Mitchell for his contribution!

Download Episode (7.7 MB, 8.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Dyoepsilonpapillomavirus 1

News item

Journal Paper:
Mun W, Kwon H, Im H, Choi SY, Monnappa AK, Mitchell RJ. 2017. Cyanide Production by Chromobacterium piscinae Shields It from Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus HD100 Predation. mBio 8:e01370-17.

Other interesting stories:

Using bacterial DNA to estimate movement of river water

Making bacteria produce biologic drugs that last longer in the body

Fungal pigment could be a useful semiconductor

Parasitic microbe uses chemical defense against defenses of fungus-growing ants

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 341 - Cancer Killer Could Cure Cryptic Contagion

HIV particles on infected cell
By Liza Gross,
PLOS Biology 2006, e445
CC BY 2.5

This episode: A virus designed to target cancer could also help eliminate hidden HIV infections!

Thanks to Nischal Ranganath for his contribution!

Download Episode (8.7 MB, 9.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces pluricolorescens

News item

Journal Paper:
Ranganath N, Sandstrom TS, Schinkel B, C S, Côté SC, Angel JB. 2018. The Oncolytic Virus MG1 Targets and Eliminates Cells Latently Infected With HIV-1: Implications for an HIV Cure. J Infect Dis 217:721–730.

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Gut microbes could affect immune defense against liver cancer

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