This Week in Microbiology

From ASM Microbe 2023 in Houston, TWiM speaks with Mimi Goldschmidt about her remarkable career in microbiology which included training astronauts to safely bring moon rocks back to Earth. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Petra Levin . Guest: Mimi Goldschmidt Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Mimi Goldschmidt (Wikipedia) Dr. Millicent "Mimi" Goldschmidt - Women in Microb...

TWiM highlights viral defense and counter-defense: cGAS mediated ubiquitination to counter infection, and viral sponges that sequester nucleotide signals to inactivate immunity. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Michele Swanson , Petra Levin . Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Ubiquitin-like conjugation by bacterial cGAS (Nature) Jumpin' Jack Flash ( TWiV 222 ) Viral spon...

TWiM describes a potential connection between a bacterial protein that damages DNA, and human cancers, and how to synthesize antimicrobial natural products from reconstructed bacterial genomes of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Michele Swanson , and Petra Levin Become a patron of TWiM Links for this episode Colorectal cancer and E. coli (Nature) Natu...

TWiM investigates the high variability in the rate and amount of current production from microbial fuel cells, and how bacteria link their growth rate to external nutrient conditions via a protein that functions as a cellular rheostat. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , and Petra Levin Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts , Spotify, Google Podcasts , Android , RSS , or by email. B...

TWiM reveals environmental integrons, bacterial genetic elements notorious for their role in spreading antibiotic resistance, and how Salmonella invasion is controlled by competition among intestinal chemical signals. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , and  Michele Swanson . Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Environmental integrons (Trends Micro) Integrons: agents of bacte...

TWiM reveals a new type of satellite virus that requires only phage tails for producing infectious virus particles, and that highly virulent plague bacteria differs from its innocuous enteric predecessor by its resistance to lysis by human complement. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Michael Schmidt . Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts , Spotify, Google Podcasts , Android , RSS , or by email....

TWiM reveals housefly dispersal of antimicrobial resistant bacteria, and a reproductive organ in squid linked to symbiotic bacteria.   Become a patron of TWiM Links for this episode Housefly dispersal of antimicrobial resistant E. coli (Appl Micro Int) Antibiotic use in farming (Nature) Antimicrobial use in food producing animals (PLoS Glob Pub Health) Reproductive organ linked to symbiotic bacter...

TWiM reveals quorum-sensing systems that regulate intestinal inflammation and permeability caused by P. aeruginosa, and how plasmids manipulate bacterial behavior through translational regulatory crosstalk. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Michele Swanson , Petra Levin . Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Quorum-sensing in the intestine (mBio) Block quorum sensing, block...

TWiM presents a protocol for evolving caffeine-tolerant yeast by high school students in the home, and how predator-prey dynamics change when multiple bacteria grow together in biofilms. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Michele Swanson , Petra Levin . Guest: Mark O. Martin Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts , Spotify, Google Podcasts , Android , RSS , or by email. Become a pat...

TWiM explains the synthesis in bacteria of new energy-dense biofuels that can replace rocket and jet fuels, and the use of nanopore sequencing to improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with serious infections.   Become a patron of TWiM.   Links for this episode: Biosynthesis of high energy biofuels (Joule) Polyketide synthases in bacteria (PNAS) Sequencing for diagnosis of serious infections...

TWiM explains how magnesium modulates cell division frequency of a soil bacillus, and killing of fungi by Acinetobacter baumannii via a Type VI DNase Effector. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Michele Swanson , and Petra Levin Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts ,  Stitcher ,  Android ,  RSS , or by  email. Become a  Patron of TWiM ! Links for this episode:...

TWiM describes successful phage therapy against a mycobacterial lung infection, and how encapsulation of the cell wall protects S. pneumoniae from its major peptidoglycan hydrolase and host defenses. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode: Phage therapy against M. abscessus lung infection (Cell) Encapsulation of the septal cell wall protects S. pneumoniae from host defenses (PLoS Path) Le...

TWiM explores the relationship between the gut microbiome and depressive symptoms, and how purine nucleotides act as adjuvants to antibiotics. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt , and  Michele Swanson Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts ,  Stitcher ,  Android ,  RSS , or by  email. Become a  Patron of TWiM ! Links for this episode: Gut microbiota and depressiv...

On this episode of TWiM, we reveal widespread stop-codon recoding in bacteriophages that may regulate translation of lytic genes, and how Staphylococcus aureus inhibits Pseudomonas aeruginosa growth. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt , and Michele Swanson . Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Stop codon recoding in bacteriophages (Nat Micro) How S. aureus inhibits P. aerugin...

TWiM presents evidence that over half of human pathogenic diseases are impacted by climate change, and considers how a novel prokaryote discovered next to an underground stream illuminates the pathway to multicellularity. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt , Petra Levin and Mark Martin. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Climate change and pathogenic diseases (Nat Climate Ch...

TWiM reveals high rates of co-transformation of plasmids in E. coli overturns the clonality myth, and bacterial membrane vesicles as a novel strategy for extrusion of the antimicrobial bismuth in H. pylori. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt , and Petra Levin Links for this episode The myth of clonality (Sci Rep) Bacterial membrane vesicles extrude bismuth (mBio) Gastric acid levels must...

Mark Martin returns to TWiM to join the discussion of how to design a complex gut microbiome, and protection of protists from virus infection by intracellular bacterial symbionts. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt , Michele Swanson , and Petra Levin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Design of a complex gut microbiome (Cell) Defensive symbiosis against giant viruses (PNAS)...

TWiM reveals how to inactivate norovirus on formica surfaces, and how to achieve antibiotic resistance by suppression of a frameshift mutation in an essential gene. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt , Michele Swanson , and Petra Levin Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts , Spotify, Google Podcasts , Android , RSS , or by email. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Effec...

TWiM explores the activation of natural product synthesis using CRISPR interference in Streptomyces , and how light/dark and temperature cycling modulate Electron Flow in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michele Swanson , and Petra Levin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Activating natural product synthesis (Nucleic Acids Res) Light and temperature modulat...

TWiM presents a novel mucosal COVID-19 vaccine based on a bacteriophage capsid, and potentiation of C. difficile infection severity by the gut bacterial community. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode: Bacteriophage based COVID-19 vaccine (mBio) Gut microbiome potentiates C. difficile disease (mBio) Letters read on TWiM 271 Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees...

TWiM explores the use of Archaea to produce plastics from molasses wastewater, and a bacterial defense against bacteriophage infection that involves depletion of deoxynucleotides. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Improving plastics production by Archaea (Appl Environ Micro) Biodegradability of PHA (Green Chem) What does tesla mean for an MRI and its magnet? (GE) Bacteria deplete nuc...

TWiM reviews discovery of a bacterium that is visible to the naked eye, and reversible resistance to bacteriophage by shedding of the bacterial cell wall. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode A bacterium that is not a microbe (Science) Overwhelming microbial greatness (TWiM 261) Medical illustrator Kellie Holoski Bacteriophage resistance by shedding cell wall (Open Biol) Who came first,...

TWiM discusses citizen science surveillance of drug-resistant Aspergillus in garden soil, and the mechanism of action of a copper dependent antibiotic. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Fanny Hesse (Microbial Menagerie) Citizen science surveillance of Aspergillus (App Envir Micro) Aspergillum (Wikipedia) DMDC, copper dependent antibiotic (Infect Immun) National Summer Undergraduate R...

From ASM Microbe 2022 in Washington, DC, Heran joins TWiM to discuss her career and her work on the agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , and Michele Swanson Guest: Heran Darwin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Honey badger of pathogens (EMBO Rep) Pup-proteasome system (PNAS) Cytokinin signaling in M. tuberculosis (mBio) Ban...

TWiM explains how spindle-shaped Archaeal viruses evolved from rod-shaped ancestors to package a larger genome, and transcriptional recording by CRISPR acquisition from RNA. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode From rods to spindles (Cell) Spindle-shaped virus movie (Cell) Bacteria that record (Science) Transcriptional recording with CRISPR (Nature) Letters read on TWiM 266 TWiM Listene...