BacterioFiles 285 - Sultry Snow Cell Sun Screen

Red snow
By Will Beback, CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: Algae growing in Arctic snow make red pigments that heat up their surroundings!

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Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Lutz S, Anesio AM, Raiswell R, Edwards A, Newton RJ, Gill F, Benning LG. 2016. The biogeography of red snow microbiomes and their role in melting arctic glaciers. Nat Commun 7:11968.

Other interesting stories:

Bacterial species benefit from losing genes they don't need

Soil fungi help plants grow better in salty conditions (paper)

Bacterial predators actually help treat infection in rats

Some bacteria produce methane while harvesting phosphorus (paper)

Probiotics could help treat skin problems (paper)

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

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BacterioFiles 284 - Remedies Reduce Recipient Rejection

This episode: Modifying mice's microbial communities increased mouse survival before a transplantation was rejected by their immune system!
Download Episode (9.6 MB, 10.5 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Lei YM, Chen L, Wang Y, Stefka AT, Molinero LL, Theriault B, Aquino-Michaels K, Sivan AS, Nagler CR, Gajewski TF, Chong AS, Bartman C, Alegre M-L. 2016. The composition of the microbiota modulates allograft rejection. J Clin Invest 126:2736–2744.

Other interesting stories:

CRISPR system can be used to record info in cells (paper)

The history of beer yeasts

Bacteria could help treat citrus tree disease (paper)

Some viruses bud off from Archaea like in eukaryotes (paper)

Infant microbe communities different with vs. without eczema (paper)

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

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BacterioFiles 283 - Phages Furnish Photosynthetic Fortifications

Nostoc
By YAMAMAYA, CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: Viruses infecting photosynthetic bacteria could transfer immunity to other viruses between their hosts!
Download Episode (6.8 MB, 7.4 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Chénard C, Wirth JF, Suttle CA. 2016. Viruses Infecting a Freshwater Filamentous Cyanobacterium (Nostoc sp.) Encode a Functional CRISPR Array and a Proteobacterial DNA Polymerase B. mBio 7:e00667-16.

Other interesting stories:

Salt-loving bacteria could maintain concrete structures in the ocean (paper)

Ancient viral infection changed how mammals develop placentas and muscle

Bees and flowers trade microbes

Fungi have specific genes that help trees with drought

Probiotic can affect Candida yeast's virulence (paper)

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

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BacterioFiles 282 - Mycobacteria Make Mice Mellow

Elevated plus-maze
By Bd008 - Own work
CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: Vaccinating mice with heat-killed soil bacteria reduced their stressed behavior and inflammation!
Download Episode (9.8 MB, 10.7 minutes)

Show notes:
Journal Paper:
Reber SO, Siebler PH, Donner NC, Morton JT, Smith DG, Kopelman JM, Lowe KR, Wheeler KJ, Fox JH, Hassell JE, Greenwood BN, Jansch C, Lechner A, Schmidt D, Uschold-Schmidt N, Füchsl AM, Langgartner D, Walker FR, Hale MW, Perez GL, Treuren WV, González A, Halweg-Edwards AL, Fleshner M, Raison CL, Rook GA, Peddada SD, Knight R, Lowry CA. 2016. Immunization with a heat-killed preparation of the environmental bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae promotes stress resilience in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci 113:E3130–E3139.

Other interesting stories:

Art with glowing bacteria

Making good bacterial tumor killers (paper)

It's worth considering plants' microbes in addition to their genes (review)

Virus affects how bees are attracted to plants

Finding new biofuels algae in wastewater (paper)

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

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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!
Download Episode (5.5 MB, 6 minutes)

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!

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