BacterioFiles 281 - Prokaryote Partners Produce Plastic

Azotobacter vinelandii

This episode: Microbes with complementary abilities help each other grow and produce useful stuff from the air!
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Show notes:
Journal Paper:
Smith MJ, Francis MB. 2016. A designed A. vinelandii-S. elongatus coculture for chemical photoproduction from air, water, phosphate and trace metals. ACS Synth Biol 5:955–961.

Other interesting stories:

Bypass surgery might fix diabetes by modifying gut community

Using bacteria to make wrinkly graphene with different properties

Figuring out what controls where microbes live in plants

Gut bacteria maybe related to rheumatoid arthritis

Gut bacteria maybe related to multiple sclerosis

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

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BacterioFiles 280 - Saccharomyces Smash Small Spaces

This episode: Microbes in tight spaces grow so much they can build up pressure and burst out!
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Show notes:
News item

Video: cells expanding walls of chamber
Video: cells squished together
Video: cells bursting out of chamber

Journal Paper:
Delarue M, Hartung J, Schreck C, Gniewek P, Hu L, Herminghaus S, Hallatschek O. 2016. Self-driven jamming in growing microbial populations. Nat Phys 12:762–766.

Other interesting stories:

Fungi can infect and kill mosquito larvae

Buildings could enhance our encountering beneficial microbes

Bacteria could generate micro amounts of power

Microbes could help improve food supply (paper)

Modified E. coli can produce more useful fuels, chemicals

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

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BacterioFiles 279 - Hijacker Heightened Hyphal Heterogeneity

Spore-forming fungus

This episode: Fungi control their cell's growth and division with a protein from a virus, unlike all other kinds of eukaryote!
Download Episode (8.9 MB, 9.75 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Medina EM, Turner JJ, Gordân R, Skotheim JM, Buchler NE. 2016. Punctuated evolution and transitional hybrid network in an ancestral cell cycle of fungi. eLife 5:e09492.

Other interesting stories:

Certain starch may help improve gut community

Gut bacteria could control insect pests

Pathogen produces anti-microbial compounds (paper)

Phage feeds on host bacterium's RNA

Studying tiny archaea from Yellowstone

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

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BacterioFiles 278 - Fungal Family Friends and Foes

Colletotrichum disease on bean pods

By David B.Langston

This episode: Some fungi change from making plants sick to being helpful to plants! How do plants react to them?
Download Episode (8.1 MB, 8.8 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Hacquard S, Kracher B, Hiruma K, Münch PC, Garrido-Oter R, Thon MR, Weimann A, Damm U, Dallery J-F, Hainaut M, Henrissat B, Lespinet O, Sacristán S, Themaat EVL van, Kemen E, McHardy AC, Schulze-Lefert P, O’Connell RJ. 2016. Survival trade-offs in plant roots during colonization by closely related beneficial and pathogenic fungi. Nat Commun 7:11362.

Other interesting stories:

New E. coli can tolerate different stages of biofuel production

Microbes can protect each other from toxins such as antibiotics

Even grains can benefit from nitrogen-fixing bacteria (paper)

Ninja star bacterial disposable battery

Evolving E. coli to fix CO₂ (when given very rich food source)

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

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BacterioFiles 277 - Sailor Cells Store Selenium

Magnetotactic bacteria with 

magnetosome chains visible

From: Edouard Alphandéry

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2014.00005

This episode: Bacteria with their own magnetic compass can also clean up and recover toxic but valuable elements!
Download Episode (6.1 MB, 6.7 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Tanaka M, Knowles W, Brown R, Hondow N, Arakaki A, Baldwin S, Staniland S, Matsunaga T. 2016. Biomagnetic Recovery and Bioaccumulation of Selenium Granules in Magnetotactic Bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 82:3886–3891.

Other interesting stories:

Gut microbe communities are affected by genetics

New microbe can do interesting chemistry to make antibiotics and stuff

Microbes in the gut cooperate with each other (paper)

Cyanobacterium's eyeball ability can sense and respond to UV light

Fungus can remove mercury from water (paper)

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

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BacterioFiles 276 - Single-cell Slime School

Physarum polycephalum on a log

By frankenstoen - flickr, CC BY 2.5 

This episode: Individual slime molds show the ability to learn about their environment!
Download Episode (8.8 MB, 9.6 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Boisseau RP, Vogel D, Dussutour A. 2016. Habituation in non-neural organisms: evidence from slime moulds. Proc R Soc B 283:20160446.

Other interesting stories:

Lactobacilli could control fungal plant pathogen (paper)

Probiotics may not be helpful if one is genetically unable to respond to them

Activity of gut microbes can affect nervous system inflammation

Biofilms develop good electrical conductivity (paper)

Three ways antibiotics affect more than just infections

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

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BacterioFiles 275 - Building Bacterial Batteries

This episode: Scientists build a battery out of microbes and electrodes that can store and release electricity repeatedly!
Download Episode (7.5 MB, 8.1 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Interesting articles about anaerobic digesters
Journal Paper:
Molenaar SD, Mol AR, Sleutels THJA, ter Heijne A, Buisman CJN. 2016. Microbial Rechargeable Battery: Energy Storage and Recovery through Acetate. Environ Sci Technol Lett 3:144–149.

Other interesting stories:

Viruses are transferred with fecal transplant, but only ones that attack bacteria (paper)

Communities of microbes on skin don't change much

Antibodies from mother in milk help babies tolerate good microbes

Bacteria could help control insects by killing males

More associations between childhood bacteria and asthma

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

Subscribe at iTunes or Google Play, support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter, or Facebook