BacterioFiles

This episode: Earth's iron deposits could have been created by anaerobic light-harvesting microbes instead of those that make oxygen! Download Episode  (9.3 MB, 13.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces avidinii News item Takeaways In the ancient earth, the sun was dimmer, the world was colder, and oxygen was rare because photosynthesis had not yet evolved. Without oxygen to o...

This episode: A global estimate of plants and their root fungi shows how agriculture may have greatly affected soil carbon storage over time! Download Episode  (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Rhizobium virus RHEph4 News item Takeaways Even small organisms can have a big effect on the climate of the planet if there are enough of them. This includes trees, which are small r...

This episode: Microalgae can produce hydrogen, but other metabolic pathways take priority, except when special engineered hydrogenase enzymes can overcome this limitation! Download Episode  (8.4 MB, 12.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Alphapapillomavirus 11 Takeaways There are many options being explored as ways to replace fossil fuels. Electricity and batteries are good, but they ha...

This episode: Some fungi only form fruiting bodies after forest fires; where do they hide the rest of the time? At least for some of them, the answer is: inside mosses! Thanks to Daniel Raudabaugh for his contribution! Download Episode  (6.2 MB, 9.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Nocardia brevicatena News item Takeaways Forest fires can do a lot of damage, but life grows back quickly...

This episode: Looking at the effects of almost doubling CO 2 concentrations on the interaction between wheat varieties and beneficial fungi! Download Episode  (8.1 MB, 11.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Lato River virus News item Takeaways As the world's population grows, feeding everyone will grow more challenging. Advances in technology in the past have made today's population pos...

This episode: Giant virus in newly discovered microscopic marine predator encodes several light-harvesting proteins! Download Episode  (7.8 MB, 11.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dolphin mastadenovirus A News item Takeaways Giant viruses are distinct in many ways from other viruses, even aside from their size. One way is the large number and variety of genes they carry in their geno...

This episode: Mice that got a microbe transplant from humans with higher physical function performed better in certain ways than mice receiving microbes from humans with lower physical function! Download Episode  (6.7 MB, 9.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Stenotrophomonas maltophila News item Takeaways Our bodies and our microbe communities are closely interconnected, with effects g...

This episode: Microbes in low-oxygen zones in the ocean consume significant amounts of methane anaerobically! Download Episode  (5.2 MB, 7.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mojiang henipavirus News item Takeaways Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Fortunately there's not as much of it in the atmosphere, but even smaller amounts can have significant effec...

This episode: Ocean bacteria brought up from the sea floor into the air can help create clouds! Download Episode  (6.1 MB, 8.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces thermodiastaticus News item Takeaways The ocean is an important player affecting the climate of the planet, in many ways. Its effects on clouds influence the amount of solar radiation reflected back into space or tr...

Probably the last episode of the year. See you in the next! This episode: Fungus living inside plants helps them form partnerships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria! Download Episode  (5.9 MB, 8.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Prevotella intermedia Takeaways Plants are very good at acquiring carbon, but they can often use some help with other nutrients. Many form partnerships with micro...

This episode: DNA from related species can kill certain pathogens when they incorporate it into their genome! Download Episode  (7.9 MB, 11.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Ungulate tetraparvovirus 3 Paper summary  (paywall) Takeaways Neisseria gonorrhoeae , the bacteria that cause gonorrhea, have the unusual ability of taking up DNA from their surroundings at any time and making use...

This episode: Coating metal surfaces with artificial biofilms could help keep the surfaces corrosion-free even in the ocean! Download Episode  (6.3 MB, 9.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hymenopteran ambidensovirus 1 Takeaways The ocean can be a harsh place for metal surfaces. Between the water, the salt, and oxygen (near the surface), corrosion is a common reality. Microbes in the o...

This episode: Another climate-related story: Cyanobacteria infected by viruses continue taking up nutrients from their environment, using it to make more viruses than would otherwise be possible! Download Episode  (6.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Microcystis virus Ma-LMM01 News item Takeaways Though global warming is a global problem, accurate models for predicting where t...

This episode: First episode of a climate-related arc! Considering microorganisms is important when predicting the amount of carbon coming from soil as temperature increases! Download Episode  (4.7 MB, 6.75 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces virus Zemlya News item Takeaways Soil as a whole has a big influence on the climate of the planet, by enabling the communities of organi...

This episode: Gut microbes can stimulate immune cells in mouse brains to fight off viral infections! Download Episode  (9.0 MB, 13.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptoverticillium mobaraense News item Takeaways The central nervous system, including the brain, is a protected area of the body. Pathogens that get in can do a lot of damage, including memory loss, paralysis, and death...

This episode: In this partnership between fungus and algae, the algae eventually take up residence inside their partner! Download Episode  (8.4 MB, 12.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Erwinia tracheiphila News item / Summary article Takeaways Partnerships and cooperation between otherwise free-living organisms is common in the natural world. Partnering with a photosynthetic organism...

This episode: Figuring out how gut communities change with changes in diet! Download Episode  (6.1 MB, 8.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hepacivirus A News item Takeaways Diet can play a big role in our health. It's not a magic pill that can cure or prevent anything, but a good diet can significantly reduce many health risks for the average person, compared with a bad diet. Diet als...

This episode: Bacteria can aide the production of the useful material graphene, using their ability to add electrons to external surfaces! Download Episode  (7.7 MB, 11.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brevibacterium frigoritolerans News item Takeaways Advanced materials often take advanced techniques to create, but they offer numerous benefits: increased strength and flexibility, sm...

This episode: Bacteria found in the guts of serious athletes help mice exercise longer by transforming their metabolic waste! Download Episode  (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Aggregatibacter ( Actinobacillus ) actinomycetemcomitans News item Takeaways Our gut microbes affect many aspects of health, and many aspects of how we live affect our microbes. One such aspect is...

This episode: Plants stimulate their root bacteria to compete better, and these bacteria help the plants resist disease! Download Episode  (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bacillus circulans Takeaways In some ways, plants' roots are like our gut. They both absorb nutrients, and they both have complex communities of microbes living alongside the host cells. These microbes...

This episode: Bacterial enzymes could convert donated blood to be compatible with more people in need! Download Episode  (8.0 MB, 11.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cucumber leaf spot virus News item Takeaways Blood transfusions using donated blood save many lives. Unfortunately, most donations can't be given to just anyone that needs blood; there must be a match in blood type betwe...

This episode: Five different ways of thinking about our relationship with our microbes! Download Episode  (20.4 MB, 29.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Tuhoko rubulavirus 3 News item Takeaways The microbiome by itself is an amazingly complicated community of many different species, with different lifestyles and metabolisms, all living together in competition and cooperation. On top o...

This episode: Not as simple as it sounds—how rod-shaped bacteria maintain their shape! Thanks to Dr. Ethan Garner for his contribution! Download Episode  (6.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Erwinia virus M7 News item Takeaways Microbes seem like they should be a lot simpler than large multicellular organisms, but even what seems like it should be a simple system in microbes c...

This episode: Bacterial symbionts of amoebas help them survive bacterial infection, and prevent pathogens from spreading to others as much! Download Episode  (7.5 MB, 8.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Eubacterium dolichum News item Takeaways Amoebas are free-living, single-celled organisms, but they have some things in common with some cells of our immune system (macrophages). For e...

This episode: A marine protist can orient itself along magnetic fields thanks to bacterial symbionts on its surface that make magnetic nanoparticles! Download Episode  (7.2 MB, 7.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Chlorocebus pygerythrus polyomavirus 3 Takeaways Various kinds of bacteria can orient their movement along a magnetic field. These are called magnetotactic, and they use this...