BacterioFiles 336 - Phages Fortify Friendly Fighters

Neutrophil captures Pseudomonas
aeruginosa cells
By Paulo Henrique Orlandi Mourao,
CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: Phage therapy can work very well when combined with an effective immune response from the host!

Download Episode (12.9 MB, 14.1 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Gammapapillomavirus 8

News item about "nightmare bacteria"

Journal Paper:
Roach DR, Leung CY, Henry M, Morello E, Singh D, Di Santo JP, Weitz JS, Debarbieux L. 2017. Synergy between the Host Immune System and Bacteriophage Is Essential for Successful Phage Therapy against an Acute Respiratory Pathogen. Cell Host Microbe 22:38-47.e4.

Other interesting stories:

Bacteria make antibacterial silver nanoparticles (paper)

Bacteria produce chemical that could enhance effectiveness of penicillin

Engineering yeast to produce valuable complex chemicals

Specific types of gut microbes affect cancer treatment effectiveness

Microbe-produced enzymes could help clean oil spills

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

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 335 - Purported Paraprobiotic Potential

Lactobacillus bacteria
Pelzer et al. 2012
PLOS One e49965

This episode: Paraprobiotics, or killed probiotic bacteria, are studied for health effects, but results and study design are questionable!

Download Episode (11.5 MB, 12.6 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Phlox virus S

Journal Paper:
Nishida K, Sawada D, Kawai T, Kuwano Y, Fujiwara S, Rokutan K. 2017. Para-psychobiotic Lactobacillus gasseri CP2305 ameliorates stress-related symptoms and sleep quality. J Appl Microbiol 123:1561–1570.

Other interesting stories:

Parasites infecting ants hide their presence

Inoculating soybean crops with extra bacteria can help them fix more nitrogen

Microbes help mice recover from bone marrow transplant (paper)

Lots of drugs other than antibiotics can harm gut communities (paper)

Using biofilm as camera film, for imaging

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

Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 334 - Measuring Mycelial Moth Muncher Management

Gypsy moth caterpillar
By CharlesC, CC BY-SA 4.0

This episode: Figuring out the best way to study the spread of a fungus that kills an invasive tree-eating caterpillar pest!

Download Episode (8.2 MB, 8.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Pasteurella aerogenes

News item

Journal Paper:
Bittner TD, Hajek AE, Liebhold AM, Thistle H. 2017. Modification of a Pollen Trap Design To Capture Airborne Conidia of Entomophaga maimaiga and Detection of Conidia by Quantitative PCR. Appl Environ Microbiol 83:e00724-17.

Other interesting stories:

Studying the whale microbiome

Gut bacteria help herbivorous ants get enough nitrogen

Environment factors can affect our microbes apart from genetic factors

Fiber could encourage gut microbes to help with type 2 diabetes

Gut microbes can affect parasitic worm infections

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

Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 333 - Transposons Take Targeting Tool

Transposon structure
By Jacek FH, CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: Certain transposons, genetic elements that move around the genome on their own, have co-opted the bacterial immune system, CRISPR, to use for jumping to new hosts!

Thanks to Dr. Joseph Peters for his contribution!
Download Episode (10.7 MB, 11.75 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces yokosukanensis

Journal Paper:
Peters JE, Makarova KS, Shmakov S, Koonin EV. 2017. Recruitment of CRISPR-Cas systems by Tn7-like transposons. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:E7358–E7366.

Other interesting stories:

Microbe found producing antibiotic previously only known to be man-made (paper)

Modifying genetics to change bacterial colony colors

Making microbe communities that help plants in specific ways

Gut microbes can protect mice against death from sepsis

Fungus affects cicada behavior to infect more hosts

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

Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 332 - Moth Minors Missing Microbes

Manduca sexta caterpillar,
tobacco hornworm

This episode: Unlike most animals, caterpillars don't seem to have a resident gut microbe to help them in various ways!

Thanks to Tobin Hammer for his contribution!
Download Episode (14 MB, 15.3 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Borrelia graingeri

News item

Journal Paper:
Hammer TJ, Janzen DH, Hallwachs W, Jaffe SP, Fierer N. 2017. Caterpillars lack a resident gut microbiome. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:9641–9646.

Other interesting stories:

Improving viral delivery of gene therapy across blood-brain barrier

Engineered gut bacteria bind bowel cancer and kill it with vegetables

Making bacteria into synthetic phage factories (paper)

Preventing contamination of industrial algae cultures using predatory bacteria (paper)

Finding potential new antibiotics in cockroach microbes (paper)

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

Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 331 - Password Protein Poisons Pairings

Myxobacteria fruiting bodies
By Trance Gemini, CC-BY 3.0

This episode: How social bacteria societies function: by sharing enzyme packages with each other that can contain toxins that are deadly for rivals but not for friends!

Thanks to Chris Vasallo for his contribution!
Download Episode (12.4 MB, 13.6 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Propionibacterium virus PAD20

News item

Journal Paper:
Vassallo CN, Cao P, Conklin A, Finkelstein H, Hayes CS, Wall D. 2017. Infectious polymorphic toxins delivered by outer membrane exchange discriminate kin in myxobacteria. eLife 6:e29397.

Other interesting stories:

Attaching proteins to little bioplastic beads to make useful nanoparticles (paper)

Fungi are very important for nutrient cycling in the world

Friendly soil microbes inject plant pathogens with toxin

Microbes are carried around the world through the atmosphere

Arctic algae can grow even in super cold and dark conditions

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

Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 330 - Polar Plasmid Produces Particles

Plasmid DNA
By de:Benutzer:Sec11, CC BY-SA 3.0

This episode: A plasmid discovered in Antarctic archaea can create virus-like particles, membrane vesicles, and transfer itself to new hosts!

Thanks to Rick Cavicchioli for his contribution.
Download Episode (17.7 MB, 19.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Hypomicrogaster canadensis bracovirus

News item

Journal Paper:
Erdmann S, Tschitschko B, Zhong L, Raftery MJ, Cavicchioli R. 2017. A plasmid from an Antarctic haloarchaeon uses specialized membrane vesicles to disseminate and infect plasmid-free cells. Nat Microbiol 2:1446.

Other interesting stories:

Probiotic bacteria good at metabolizing potentially helpful plant compounds (paper)

Bacteria can harvest precious metals from waste to make catalytic particles (paper)

Bacteria help mice avoid chemotherapy-induced autoimmunity (paper)

Exercise could be healthy partly because it modifies gut microbe community

Gut microbe community may help some bats live long (paper)

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

Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Episode outline: