This Week in Microbiology

The TWiM cohort discusses the use of antimicrobial peptides to target specific bacteria in the microbiome, and how the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia selectively kills male hosts.   Links for this episode: Antimicrobial peptides to modulate microbial ecology (PNAS) Targeting specific bacteria in the oral microbiome (Trends Micro) How Wolbachia kills male hosts (PLoS Biol) Wolbachia phage on TWi...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt ,  Elio Schaechter  and  Michele Swanson .     The professors of TWiM discuss a University of Wisconsin plan for rescuing biomedical research in the US, and results of a clinical trial in Bangladesh of an oral cholera vaccine. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes ,  Stitcher ,  RSS , or by  email.  You can also listen on your mobile device with the  Mic...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Michael Schmidt . Vincent and Michael discuss the highly diverse microbiome of uncontacted Amerindians, and how the composition of human urine plays a role in the battle for iron. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes , via  RSS feed , by  email  or listen on your mobile device with the  Microbeworld app . Links for this episode Microbiome of uncontacted Amerindians...

  Vincent and Michael speak with Katy Bosio about her research on pathogenesis, immunity, and vaccines against Franciscella tularensis , the causative agent of tularemia.

The TWiM team reviews the microbiological safety of herbs in the United Kingdom, and how a peptide from the milkweek bug binds the ribosome and inhibits bacterial protein synthesis.   Links for this episode:   Microbes in whole-leaf herbs (J Appl Micro) Antimicrobial peptide blocks ribosome (Nat Struct Mol Biol) Bacterial protein synthesis (Micro Mol Biol Rev) Antimicrobial peptides (Nature) The b...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt ,  Elio Schaechter  and  Michele Swanson .     The TWiM team discusses how measles vaccination protects against other infectious diseases, and links between bacterial biofilms and colon cancer. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes ,  Stitcher ,  RSS , or by  email.  You can also listen on your mobile device with the  Microbeworld app . Links for this ep...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt ,  Elio Schaechter  and  Michele Swanson .   The TWiM team is amazed by the ocelloid, and an evolutionary battle for iron between mammalian transferrin and bacterial transferrin-binding protein. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes ,  Stitcher ,  RSS , or by  email.  You can also listen on your mobile device with the  Microbeworld app . Links for this e...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt ,  Elio Schaechter  and  Michele Swanson .   The TWiM team discusses evidence that serotonin synthesis is regulated by spore-forming members of the gut microbiota. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes , via  RSS feed , by  email  or listen on your mobile device with the  Microbeworld app . Links for this episode When  antibiotic resistance in vitro  fal...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt ,  Elio Schaechter  and  Michele Swanson .   The TWiMers discuss how aroma helps disperse yeast cells on insect vectors, and evidence that MRSA is transmitted within households. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes , via  RSS feed , by  email  or listen on your mobile device with the  Microbeworld app . Links for this episode Aroma promotes  yeast dispe...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt ,  Elio Schaechter  and  Jo Handelsman .     The TWiM team celebrates 100 episodes with a Talmudic question, and discussion of how a single mutation alters bacterial host tropism. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes , via  RSS feed , by  email  or listen on your mobile device with the  Microbeworld app . Links for this episode A single  mutation alters...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello Guests:  Maria Julia Marinissen ,  Edward H. You , and David R. Howell Vincent meets up with Maria, Edward, and David at the ASM Biodefense and Emerging Infections Research meeting to talk about alternative careers for scientists. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes , via  RSS feed , by  email  or listen on your mobile device with the  Microbeworld app .   A video versio...

  The TWiM crew ponders the question of how a bacterium finds its middle when dividing, then divulge the transfer of interbacterial antagonism genes to eukaryotes, where they may function in innate defense.   Links for this episode:   Size independent symmetric division (Nat Commun) How does a bacterium find its middle ? (Nat Struct Biol) Genes transferred from bacteria augment eukaryotic defenses...

The TWiM team reveal how bacteria in a shipworm’s gills help digest wood in the gut, and an approach that identifies a new antibiotic from the soil.   Links for this episode:   Gill bacteria enable a novel digestive strategy (PNAS) Killing bacteria without resistance (Nature) An irresistable newcomer (Nature) Peptidoglycan synthesis animation 10 x 20 initiative (IDSA) Longitude Prize Visit microbe...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello . Special guest: Rob Knight Vincent meets up with Rob Knight to talk about the technology that has fueled his drive to sequence the Earth and its inhabitants. Check out the Microbeworld app . Links for this episode Microbes en masse (Nature) Obesity alters gut microbial ecology (PNAS) Sharing microbiome with dogs (eLife) Earth microbiome project (BMC Biology) Stability o...

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello . Special guest:  Stanley Maloy Vincent meets up with Stan Maloy on the campus of San Diego State University to talk about his career in microbiology and his work as Dean of Science. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes , via  RSS feed , by  email  or listen on your mobile device with the  Microbeworld app . Links for this episode:  Maloy lab Salmonella.org Microbial gene...

Vincent, Elio, and Michael discuss a symbiosis between a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria and a single-celled eukaryotic alga.   Links for this episode:   Unicellular cyanobacterium and alga symbiosis (Science) Diversity of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium and its host (Environ Micro) Talmudic Question #4 ( answer ) Talmudic Question #2 Coccolithophore (Wikipedia) Visit microbeworld.org/twim to view th...

  Vincent, Elio, and Michael reveal that a soil-dwelling nematode can recognize and respond to a bacterial quorum sensing molecule through a sensory neuron.

Vincent, Elio, Michael and Michele discuss the possible eradication of wild poliovirus type 3, and how microsporidian parasites prevent locust swarming behavior.  

Vincent, Elio, and Michele review a study of the viruses and bacteria in commensal rats in New York City. Visit microbeworld.org/twim  for complete show notes. Thanks for listening!

  Vincent meets up with Laurene and David at the Annual Meeting of the Southern California Branch of the American Society for Microbiology, where they discuss how the Los Angeles County Department of Health is preparing for an outbreak of Ebola virus infection, and Cepheid’s game-changing, modular PCR system for the diagnosis of infectious diseases.

Vincent, Michele, and Michael discuss how a gene from bacteria protects a tick from plant cyanide poisoning, and enhanced transmission of Streptococcus pneumoniae by influenza virus co-infection in mice.

Michele speaks with members of the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, on the occasion of its designation as a Milestones in Microbiology site, where they discuss how the department has advanced the science and teaching of microbiology.  

Vincent, Elio, and Michael explore the fossilization of archaeal lipids, and highlight the recent ICAAC in Washington, D.C.  

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt ,  Elio Schaechter  and  Michele Swanson .   Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele consider whether our eating behavior is manipulated by gastrointestinal microbiota, and an aphid gene of bacterial origin whose gene product encodes a protein that is transported to an obligate endosymbiont.  Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes , via  RSS feed , by  email...

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele discuss the diel transcriptional rythmns of bacterioplankton communities in the ocean, and extensively drug resistant Pseudomonas in Ohio.