BacterioFiles 321 - Escherichia Extends elegans Existence

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

This episode: Bacteria with various gene knockouts help roundworms live longer and with less disease!

Download Episode (9.9 MB, 10.75 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Han B, Sivaramakrishnan P, Lin C-CJ, Neve IAA, He J, Tay LWR, Sowa JN, Sizovs A, Du G, Wang J, Herman C, Wang MC. 2017. Microbial Genetic Composition Tunes Host Longevity. Cell 169:1249–1262.e13.

Other interesting stories:

Useful reviews and guide to commercial probiotic selection at Reviews.com

Success of high-fiber diet depends on gut microbes

Engineering microbes to produce fluorine-containing polymers (like Teflon)

Using mosquito gut bacteria to prevent malaria spread

Bacteria and archaea in harsh places share genes often (paper)

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 320 - Fortified Fungi Fight Fevers

Anopheles gambiae

This episode: Fungi modified to produce spider and scorpion toxins kill malaria-transmitting mosquitoes extra fast!

Thanks to Brian Lovett for his contribution.

Download Episode (7.8 MB, 8.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Microbispora parva

News item

Journal Paper:
Bilgo E, Lovett B, Fang W, Bende N, King GF, Diabate A, Leger RJS. 2017. Improved efficacy of an arthropod toxin expressing fungus against insecticide-resistant malaria-vector mosquitoes. Sci Rep 7:3433.

Other interesting stories:

Virus-like protein helps bacteria eat fungi (paper)

Molecules from good bacteria help animals stay healthy for longer (paper)

Zika virus could help treat brain cancer

Probiotic bacterium helps prevent gluten-related gut problems in mice (paper)

Native vs. invader microbes help or prevent invasive marine plants invade

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 319 - Mycelial Moisture Magnanimity

By: Worrich et al. 2017, Nat Commun

CC-BY 4.0

This episode: Filament network-forming organisms like fungi can transfer nutrients and moisture to bacteria in harsher conditions!

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Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Desulfuromonas acetoxidans

News item

Journal Paper:
Worrich A, Stryhanyuk H, Musat N, König S, Banitz T, Centler F, Frank K, Thullner M, Harms H, Richnow H-H, Miltner A, Kästner M, Wick LY. 2017. Mycelium-mediated transfer of water and nutrients stimulates bacterial activity in dry and oligotrophic environments. Nat Commun 8:ncomms15472.

Other interesting stories:

Which gut fungi transfer from mothers to babies (paper)

Bacteria as catalyst substrate for biofuel cleaning

Different gut microbiota associated with Parkinson's disease

Engineering gut bacteria to talk to the body in helpful ways

Bacteria induce mating in another ocean microbe

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

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BacterioFiles 318 - Killers Controlling Coral Contamination

Predator attacking and killing prey
From: Welsh et al. 2017 PeerJ
CC-BY 4.0

This episode: Bacteria that prey on other bacteria could help keep corals healthy! Thanks to Rory Welsh for his contribution.

Download Episode (12.8 MB, 14 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Latino mammarenavirus

Journal Paper:
Welsh RM, Rosales SM, Zaneveld JR, Payet JP, McMinds R, Hubbs SL, Thurber RLV. 2017. Alien vs. predator: bacterial challenge alters coral microbiomes unless controlled by Halobacteriovorax predators. PeerJ 5:e3315.

Other interesting stories:

Using trees and their microbes to clean up pollution

Using bacteria to preserve/repair stone monuments and statues (paper)

Stable gut microbes could help defend against amoeba infection

Phage therapy treats very resistant infection in person

Probiotic + probiotic food could help prevent infant sepsis (paper)

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 317 - Mosquito Microbe Movement

Aedes aegypti
By Muhammad Mahdi Karim
Own work, GFDL 1.2

This episode: Studying how Wolbachia bacteria spread through a mosquito population helps efforts to use them to prevent the spread of Dengue! Thanks to Tom Schmidt for his contribution.

Download Episode (11.3 MB, 12.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Heterosigma akashiwo virus 01

News item

Journal Paper:
Schmidt TL, Barton NH, Rašić G, Turley AP, Montgomery BL, Iturbe-Ormaetxe I, Cook PE, Ryan PA, Ritchie SA, Hoffmann AA, O’Neill SL, Turelli M. 2017. Local introduction and heterogeneous spatial spread of dengue-suppressing Wolbachia through an urban population of Aedes aegypti. PLOS Biol 15:e2001894.

Other interesting stories:

Gut bacteria affect what foods and bacteria that fruit flies prefer to eat

Using mouth bacteria to estimate time of death

Huge bacterial protein attaches to ice and diatoms

Feeding friendly gut microbes helps prevent imbalance

Bacteria can sense and respond to touch

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 316 - Studying Sizeable Special Synthetases

Beauvericin
By Yu et al. 2017, Nat Commun
CC-BY 4.0

This episode: Scientists study how fungi make interesting peptides using large proteins instead of ribosomes.

Download Episode (8.7 MB, 9.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Nerine virus X

News item

Journal Paper:
Yu D, Xu F, Zhang S, Zhan J. 2017. Decoding and reprogramming fungal iterative nonribosomal peptide synthetases. Nat Commun 8:ncomms15349.

Other interesting stories:

Using CRISPR to encode a short movie into a bacterial genome (paper)

Virus that tolerates boiling acid could be model for super-tough nanomaterials

Avoiding microbiota disruption protects frogs from parasites

Soil microbe communities are also recovering in prairie restoration

Couples modify each other's microbe communities, though not much

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 315 - Probiotics Prevent Protein Plaques

Credit: National Institute on Aging

This episode: In mice genetically modified to have Alzheimer's-like disease, giving probiotics reduced their degeneration!

Download Episode (11.8 MB, 13 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: SARS coronavirus

Journal Paper:
Bonfili L, Cecarini V, Berardi S, Scarpona S, Suchodolski JS, Nasulti C, Fiorini D, Boarelli MC, Rossi G, Eleuteri AM. 2017. Microbiota modulation counteracts Alzheimer's disease progression influencing neuronal proteolysis and gut hormone plasma levels. Sci Rep 7:2426.

Other interesting stories:

Fruit fly bacteria attack wasps' ribosomes that attack them

Bacteria living on the eye protect it from infection

New technique to prevent CRISPR/Cas from functioning

Tardigrades should be able to survive almost any kind of planetary catastrophe

Using fungi to recover/clean up metals from liquid (paper)

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

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Episode outline: