This Week in Microbiology

TWiM reviews a case of E. faecium bacteremia treated with combination bacteriophage and antibiotic therapy, and how dopamine receptor D2 confers colonization resistance via microbial metabolites. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Petra Levin and Michele Swanson . Guest: Mark O. Martin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Matters Microbial Distinct Fusobacterium dominates col...

TWiM reviews a case of E. faecium bacteremia treated with combination bacteriophage and antibiotic therapy, and how dopamine receptor D2 confers colonization resistance via microbial metabolites. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Petra Levin and Michele Swanson . Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Android , RSS , or by email. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this...

TWiM discusses the identification of natural products from reconstructed ancient bacterial genomes, and how plant mRNAs move into a fungal pathogen via extracellular vesicles to reduce infection. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , and Petra Levin . Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Natural products from ancient bacterial genomes (Science) Plant mRNAs move into fungal patho...

TWiM reviews the ongoing cholera outbreak in Africa, and research showing that gut complement induced by the microbiota blocks pathogens and spares commensal bacteria. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Petra Levin and Michele Swanson . Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Cholera in Southern Africa (Africa CDC) Deadly cholera outbreak in Africa (NY Times) Pediatric cholera i...

TWiM reveals a new population in the blue cheese-making fungus Penicillium roqueforti and identification of a quorum-sensing autoinducer and siderophore in uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on  Apple Podcasts , Spotify, Google Podcasts , Android , RSS , or by email. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode New blue cheese-making fungus (Evol Appl) Threat to Camenbert...

TWiM reveals a database of genome sequences of thousands of Mycobaterium tuberculosis, allowing association with resistance phenotypes to 13 antibiotics, and microbe-derived uremic solutes that enhance thrombosis potential in the host. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , and Michele Swanson . Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode M. tuberculosis genomes and antimicrobial resist...

TWiM describes the mechanism for the S. aureus itch and scratch induced skin damage, and discovery of a novel class of antibiotics that targets the lipopolysaccharide transporter.   Become a patron of TWiM.   Links: S. aureus drives itch and scratch behavior (Cell) Staph scratches its itch (Cell) A new class of antibiotics (Nature) A new type of antibiotic (Nature) Novel antibiotic targets LPS tra...

A highly reduced TWiM team presents a study of the use of phage diversity in cell-free DNA to identify bacterial pathogens in human sepsis cases, and the evolution, persistence, and host adaptation of a gonococcal antimicrobial resistance plasmid that emerged in the pre-antibiotic era. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Petra Levin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Phages identify sepsis...

On the occasion of TWiM's 300th episode, we discuss how two college students found a new antibiotic in soil, Barbara Iglewski's passing, and Elio returns for an appearance. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Petra Levin and Michele Swanson . Guest: Elio Schaechter Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Barbara Iglewski dies Antimicrobial activity of P. nicotinovorans (MicroPubl...

From ASM's Conference for Undergraduate Educators 2023 in Phoenix, TWiM speaks with Amaya Garcia Costas and Gwendolyn Knapp about their approaches to undergraduate microbiology education, and how they use TWiM as part of their curricula. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Petra Levin and Michele Swanson . Guest: Amaya Garcia Costas and Gwendolyn Knapp . Become a patron of TWiM. Links fo...

TWiM provides thoughts on providing better training for a non-academic career, and help celebrate Black in Microbiology Week with a 2023 paper by Ari Kozik, a co-founder of Black Microbiologists Association and Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Michele Swanson , Petra Levin , Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Better t rain...

TWiM reviews how a coating of lipoproteins provides a stabilizing environment on the inner membrane of Bacillus subtilis spores, and a miniaturized device that integrates genetically engineered probiotic biosensors with a custom-designed photodetector and readout chip to track mediators of inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , and Petra Levin , Su...

TWiM discusses a dispute about whether the mycobiome plays a role in the development of cancer, and the structure and function of channels that are delivered to plant cells by pathogenic bacteria. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , and Michael Schmidt . Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Cancer microbes disputed (Carl Zimmer) Fungal mycobiome and cancer (Nature) Revisiting fungal mycobiome a...

TWiM explains how phages avoid tRNA-targeting host defenses, and discovery of a new antibiotic from an uncultured bacterium that binds to an immutable target. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , and Petra Levin , Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Phages avoid tRNA-targeting host defenses (eLife) Sea phages Actinobacteriophage database New antibiotic from uncultured bacteriu...

TWiM reveals that the ice cream manufacturing environment harbors psychrotrophic bacteria, and identification of a deadly bacterial strain causing widespread deaths of newborns in Uganda. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , & Michele Swanson . Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Pyschrotrophic bacteria in ice cream plants (Appl Environ Micro) Creamery pays fine for contaminat...

TWiM explains personalized aerosilized phage therapy for a chronic lung infection, and using the combination of antibiotic and a DNA molecule that binds alpha-gal to reduce S. aureus infection in vivo. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello  and  Michael Schmidt Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts ,  Google Podcasts ,  Stitcher ,  Android ,  RSS , or by  email. Become a  Patron of TWiM ! Links for this...

TWiM reveals that breast milk bioactives are essential for development of the infant microbiome and immunity, and how capsule mutants of Klebsiella pneumoniae can affect bacterial pathogenesis. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Michael Schmidt , Michele Swanson , Petra Levin , Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Diet-microbe-host interaction in early life (Science) Human Milk: An Ideal Food...

TWiM explains how photoferrotrophic bacteria initiated plate tectonics over 2500 million years ago, and how two bacteria work together to cause childhood tooth decay. 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 patron of TWiM. Links f...

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...