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!

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BacterioFiles 274 - Proteobacteria Purify Piscine Pee

Adult female zebrafish

By Azul - Own work, Copyrighted free use

This episode: Bacteria in the gills of fish help break down their metabolic wastes before they reach toxic levels!
Download Episode (7.4 MB, 8.1 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
van Kessel MAHJ, Mesman RJ, Arshad A, Metz JR, Spanings FAT, van Dalen SCM, van Niftrik L, Flik G, Wendelaar Bonga SE, Jetten MSM, Klaren PHM, Op den Camp HJM. 2016. Branchial nitrogen cycle symbionts can remove ammonia in fish gills. Environ Microbiol Rep 8:590–594.

Other interesting stories:

How do microbes live in the harsh conditions of salt-secreting tree leaves? (paper)

Bacteria inside fungi affect how they interact with plants (paper)

Wolbachia may prevent dengue transmission by affecting mosquito lipids (paper)

Effects from fungi in soil can be detected from space

Bacterial mosquito symbionts block Zika transmission

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

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BacterioFiles 273 - Bottle-Biting Bacteria

Ideonella azotifigens cells

This episode: Newly discovered bacteria can break down especially long-lived type of plastic!
Download Episode (6.4 MB, 7 minutes)

Show notes:
News item 1/News item 2 (loginwall)

Journal Paper:
Yoshida S, Hiraga K, Takehana T, Taniguchi I, Yamaji H, Maeda Y, Toyohara K, Miyamoto K, Kimura Y, Oda K. 2016. A bacterium that degrades and assimilates poly(ethylene terephthalate). Science 351:1196–1199.

Other interesting stories:

Worms may help gut health by modifying microbe community

Figuring out how breastmilk helps babies' microbes

Gut bacteria can affect fruit fly reproduction (paper)

Bacteria can crawl along and kill fungal filaments (paper)

Feeding mice fiber for bacteria increases their anti-inflammatory effect (paper)

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

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BacterioFiles 272 - Parasite Prevents Pollution Poisoning

Brine shrimp Artemia

Credit: Xavier on Flickr

This episode: Worm parasites infecting brine shrimp help them survive better in arsenic-polluted environments!
Download Episode (7.9 MB, 8.6 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Sánchez MI, Pons I, Martínez-Haro M, Taggart MA, Lenormand T, Green AJ. 2016. When Parasites Are Good for Health: Cestode Parasitism Increases Resistance to Arsenic in Brine Shrimps. PLOS Pathog 12:e1005459.

Other interesting stories:

French company trying to create lighting using bacteria (paywall)

Generating electricity with clever bio-solar panels

Microbiome proteins don't change much, not affected by probiotics (paper)

Microbes are important for tasty food

Plants can withhold food from uncooperative fungal symbionts

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