This Week in Microbiology

In Melbourne, Australia Vincent speaks with David, Melanie, and Adam about their work on group A Streptococcus, Helicobacter pylori, and infections of Koalas with Chlamydia.

Vincent, Michael, Elio and Michele review a new fluorogenic diagnostic test for tuberculosis bacteria, and the role of a metalloprotease in helping a fungus invade the central nervous system.   

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Michael Schmidt ,  Elio Schaechter  and  Michele Swanson . Vincent, Michael, Elio and Michele discuss how an endosymbiont betrays its aphid host to alert plant defenses, and a new immunosuppressive cell that allows infection of neonates.   Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  iTunes , via  RSS feed , by  email  or listen on your mobile device with the  Microbeworld app . Link...

Vincent, Michael, and Michele discuss how iron might disperse bacterial biofilms in carotid arterial plaques, and controlling  Salmonella  by modulating host iron homeostasis. 

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello ,  Elio Schaechter , and Michele Swanson .  Vincent, Elio, and Michele discuss how to synthesize a designer yeast chromosome, and deciphering the genetic changes path that allowed Yersinia pestis to be transmitted by fleas. Links for this episode: Total synthesis of a yeast chromosome (Science) Evolution of Y. pestis to flea-borne transmission (Cell Host Micr) Proventric...

Vincent, Michael, and Michele review highlights of the 2014 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Boston, MA.

Vincent, Elio, and Michael consider a fungal pathogen of insects that acquired a gene from its host that facilitates infection, and presence of gram-negative nosocomial pathogens on community surfaces near hospitals in Brooklyn. 

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michelle review how a pathogen promotes plant attractiveness to insect vectors, and activation of sensory neurons that modulate pain and inflammation by bacterial infection.  

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michelle discuss the use of bacteria to build a genetic sensor for heavy metals, and how host sugars help enteric pathogens to expand after antibiotic treatment.  

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michelle discuss a symbiosis between a bacterium and fungus that increases the virulence of oral biofilms, and the assembly of amyloid fibers, which are needed for biofilm formation.  

Vincent, Elio, and Michael discuss a huge 30,000 year old virus recovered from Siberia, and nested symbiosis facilitated by horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to insect.

Vincent, Michael, and Michele discuss how soil-dwelling bacteria induce the formation of root nodules on legumes via a protein called CYCLOPS. 

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele review how microbial virulence can be increased as a consequence of community surveillance and adaptation to macrophages.  

Vincent, Michael, and Michele explain how the gut microbiome modulates colon tumorigenesis, and regulation of intestinal macrophage function by the microbial metabolite butyrate.

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele discuss evidence that the acellular pertussis vaccine fails to prevent infection and transmission in nonhuman primates, and the use of bacterial cytological profiling to identify pathways targeted by antibiotics.

Vincent, Elio, Jo, and Michele review evidence for bacterial DNA integrated into the human genome, and control of the symbiont population in an insect midgut.

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele discuss the amazingly high level of intergenera gene exchange among haloarchaea in an Antarctic lake, and the diversity of fungi on residential surfaces and the human forehead. 

Vincent, Elio, and Michael discuss how temperature triggers Neisseria menigitidis immune evasion, and protection of mice from ionizing radiation by feeding them black mushrooms.

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele discuss the curious outer membrane vesicles of Neisseria meningitides, and sources of Clostridium difficile infection revealed by genome sequencing.

Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Michelle Swanson . Vincent and Michelle reveal how the human gut microbiota can modulate obesity in mice. Links for this episode:   Gut microbiota  modulate metabolism  (Science)  Fighting obesity  with bacteria (Science) Letters read  on TWiM 065 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to  twim@twiv.tv , or call them in to 908-312-0760. Y...

Vincent and Michael recorded this episode at the 53rd ICAAC in Denver, where they spoke with James Gern and James Johnson about rhinoviruses and extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli .

Vincent, Michael, and Michelle discuss how a Staphylococcus aureus superantigen is critical for pathogenesis in a rabbit model, and the relationship of body odor to the axilla microbiome.

Vincent and Michael discuss how infection with influenza A virus disperses Streptococcus pneumoniae biofilms leading to disease, and an amazing protein chainmail in a viral capsid 

Vincent, Elio, and Michele review how horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to an insect genome enables a tripartite nested mealybug symbiosis, and how probiotic bacteria work by competing for iron in the intestine.

Vincent, Elio, and Michael discuss how an error-prone reverse transcriptase produces enormous diversity in a Legionella protein, and using microbes to convert waste into bioelectricity and chemicals.