Podcasts about proc natl acad sci

This episode: Bacteria living inside soil fungus produce toxins that can protect their host from tiny predators! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mycobacterium virus DLane Takeaways Soils have many different organisms cooperating and competing for resources. Some little worms called nematodes prey on fungi in the soil, while fungi may effectively defend themselves or strike back with toxins or traps that catch and kill the worms. On top of these interactions are other organisms that interact in various ways. In this study, bacteria living inside a kind of soil fungus produce toxins that defend the fungus against predatory nematodes.   Journal Paper: Büttner H, Niehs SP, Vandelannoote K, Cseresnyés Z, Dose B, Richter I, Gerst R, Figge MT, Stinear TP, Pidot SJ, Hertweck C. 2021. Bacterial endosymbionts protect beneficial soil fungus from nematode attack. Proc Natl Acad Sci 118:e2110669118. Other interesting stories: Sequencing stomach bacteria to find out how prehistoric populations migrated   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

This episode: Training a phage strain on bacteria can increase its ability to control those bacteria for much longer than an untrained phage! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Pepper yellow leaf curl Indonesia virus   News item   Takeaways With resistance to antibiotics spreading more and more among deadly bacteria, finding alternatives to treat infections is becoming more important. One option is phage therapy, using viruses that infect bacteria to weaken or wipe out pathogens, but this can be tricky. Sometimes it takes too long to prepare an effective population of phage for treatment, and sometimes the target pathogen evolves resistance to the phage too quickly   In this study, a phage that was trained, or pre-evolved, to infect specific bacteria more effectively, was able to dominate the population consistently and prevent it from becoming fully resistant. For comparison, against an untrained strain of the same phage, the bacteria developed almost complete resistance after several days.   Journal Paper: Borin JM, Avrani S, Barrick JE, Petrie KL, Meyer JR. 2021. Coevolutionary phage training leads to greater bacterial suppression and delays the evolution of phage resistance. Proc Natl Acad Sci 118. Other interesting stories: Engineered gut bacteria could sense and indicate bowel inflammation   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

This episode: A virus of archaea stops cells from dividing, so they just keep getting bigger and releasing more viruses! Download Episode (6.9 MB, 10.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces caelestis   Takeaways Viruses affect their hosts many different ways: instant hostile takeover of cellular machinery, lurking unseen in the genome for generations, inducing reduced cell division or excessive cell division, and more. Archaeal viruses are relatively unknown in their genetic abilities and lifestyles, but we do know that they tend not to destroy their hosts through explosive viral reproduction, and that some archaea have eukaryote-like cell cycle phases.   In this study, some viruses infecting a thermophilic archaeon interrupt its cycle in the growth phase, so hosts expand in size up to around 17 times normal, continuously releasing new viruses over time. Eventually some archaea in the population gain resistance to the viruses via their CRISPR/Cas systems, and normal-sized cells dominate the population again.   Journal Paper: Liu J, Cvirkaite-Krupovic V, Baquero DP, Yang Y, Zhang Q, Shen Y, Krupovic M. 2021. Virus-induced cell gigantism and asymmetric cell division in archaea. Proc Natl Acad Sci 118:e2022578118. Other interesting stories: Chocolate is a fermented food   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Finally found some good stories, so we're back! This episode: How slime molds encode and use memories built into their own bodies! Download Episode (4.6 MB, 6.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Aeromonas salmoncida News item   Takeaways Despite being single-celled organisms, slime molds have fairly complex behavior, including a basic form of memory. They often grow as a network of tubes of cytoplasm branching out from one place to find and exploit new sources of food in their environment. When these tubes connect to new food, other less productive branches of its body shrink away.   As it turns out, this body form serves a role in memory also. This study determined that the slime mold's tubes undergo constant squeezing, which moves cell contents around and also shrinks them. When tubes are connecting to a food source though, they secrete a softening agent that allows the pressure to expand the tubes instead of shrinking them. These larger tubes consequently are capable of transporting more softening agent farther away to newer food sources, so the history of food discoveries is recorded in the slime mold's own body, which also influences its responses to new discoveries.   Journal Paper: Kramar M, Alim K. 2021. Encoding memory in tube diameter hierarchy of living flow network. Proc Natl Acad Sci 118. Other interesting stories: Bacteria-derived gene editing tool TALEN better than CRISPR in some cases Live microbes in oceans produce more hydrocarbons than oil seeps introduce, priming microbes to break down oil (paper)   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

This episode: Bacteria protect farmed mushrooms from damage by other bacteria by breaking down their toxins! Download Episode (4.9 MB, 7.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Tomato mosaic virus Takeaways Almost all organisms are vulnerable to pathogenic microbes that make them sick or cause damage. Most also have other microbes that help them grow better or protect them from pathogens. This includes animals, plants, and also fungi. In this study, bacterial pathogens produce a toxin that causes button mushrooms to turn brown and rot. However, other bacteria can degrade this toxin and protect the fungus, and can also degrade molecules the pathogens produce to help them swarm to new places, restricting their movement. Journal Paper: Hermenau R, Kugel S, Komor AJ, Hertweck C. 2020. Helper bacteria halt and disarm mushroom pathogens by linearizing structurally diverse cyclolipopeptides. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117:23802–23806. Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

This episode: Bacteria living in the driest place on earth have ways to extract water from the mineral structures of rocks! Download Episode (3.7 MB, 5.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Irkut lyssavirus   News item Takeaways Microbes living in extremely dry conditions have it tough. Water is important both for the chemistry and structure of all cells. Desert microbes are very good at acquiring and holding on to the water they can find, but in places such as the Atacama Desert in Chile, there's almost none available.   However, microbes can be very resourceful. In this study, phototrophs were discovered that can actually extract water molecules bound up in the crystalline structure of the mineral gypsum, and this allows them to survive in hyperarid regions. They do this by secreting organic acid molecules to etch the rock and release the water, converting gypsum to anhydrite, which is a mineral with the same chemical structure except without the water. Journal Paper: Huang W, Ertekin E, Wang T, Cruz L, Dailey M, DiRuggiero J, Kisailus D. 2020. Mechanism of water extraction from gypsum rock by desert colonizing microorganisms. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117:10681–10687. Other interesting stories: Cholesterol-lowering drugs associated with fewer gut microbiota problems Using bacterial hormones to get bacteria to produce more interesting molecules   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

This episode: Bacterial cells with their genomes removed can still be active and useful! Download Episode (10.2 MB, 14.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Rosavirus A Takeaways Microbes have amazing biochemical transformation abilities, creating and breaking down many compounds and proteins. This makes them great candidates for many purposes, in medicine, industry, and environmental remediation. In some of these purposes, though, there are risks associated with adding foreign microbes, especially engineered ones, that can replicate themselves and possibly persist, into new places.   To avoid this risk, this study turns intact bacteria into SimCells, simplified entities with most of their genetic material removed, leaving only the proteins and other components and just enough DNA to accomplish desired tasks. These SimCells were able to continue performing tasks for around 10 days before running out of the cellular resources needed to keep going. One of these tasks was producing a compound that damaged cancer cells in a dish but left non-cancerous cells unharmed. Journal Paper: Fan C, Davison PA, Habgood R, Zeng H, Decker CM, Salazar MG, Lueangwattanapong K, Townley HE, Yang A, Thompson IP, Ye H, Cui Z, Schmidt F, Hunter CN, Huang WE. 2020. Chromosome-free bacterial cells are safe and programmable platforms for synthetic biology. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117:6752–6761. Other interesting stories: Biofuel-producing bacteria can generate electricity at the same time (paper) Using dried microbial biomass as fertilizer works pretty well (paper)   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

This episode: A fungus paralyzes its tiny worm prey by acting on the worm's own sensory hairs! Download Episode (6.0 MB, 8.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bat associated cyclovirus 9 Takeaways Not all predators are fast or agile; some are sneaky, or good trap builders, or just good chemists. The predator club includes animals but also plants and even fungi. For example, the oyster mushroom fungus can paralyze roundworms in the soil that touch its filaments, then degrade their bodies and consume their nutrients.   The mechanism of this paralysis has been a mystery, but it's one step closer to being solved. This study found that intact sensory cilia, little hairs on the worm's head that help it sense its surroundings, are required for the paralysis to work. Worms with mutations in the structure of their cilia were protected from paralysis. How exactly the fungus acts on these cilia and the neurons they connect to, though, is still unknown. Journal Paper: Lee C-H, Chang H-W, Yang C-T, Wali N, Shie J-J, Hsueh Y-P. 2020. Sensory cilia as the Achilles heel of nematodes when attacked by carnivorous mushrooms. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117:6014–6022. Other interesting stories: Bread waste could be good food for useful fermentations Symbiotic bacteria in beetle picked up gene that helps defend beetle eggs from fungus   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

This episode: Using phages to target gold nanoparticles to infecting bacteria, then using light to heat the nanoparticles just enough to kill the bacteria! Thanks to Raymond Borg and Huan Peng for contributing! Download Episode (10.6 MB, 15.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Pantoea agglomerans News item Takeaways Viruses that infect bacteria, bacteriophages, are often very good at overcoming bacterial defenses and killing them. This raises the possibility, and many times actuality, of using phages to treat bacterial infections that are no longer treatable with antibiotics. But bacteria can evolve resistances to viruses as well as drugs, and using multiplying, evolving entities as treatments in people raises questions about the safety and consistency of the treatment. This study circumvents these questions by using phages for delivery and targeting of bacteria rather than the therapeutic agent itself. The actual treatment is done with tiny rods of gold, gold nanorods, bound to the phage surface. When a certain wavelength of light hits these nanorods, they vibrate enough to generate enough heat in their immediate surroundings to render nearby bacteria nonviable. Thus the infection is treated in a very localized, targeted way that doesn't leave any active bacteria or phages behind. The authors have plans to study this approach as a topical treatment of wounds. Journal Paper: Peng H, Borg RE, Dow LP, Pruitt BL, Chen IA. 2020. Controlled phage therapy by photothermal ablation of specific bacterial species using gold nanorods targeted by chimeric phages. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117:1951–1961. Other interesting stories: Two bacteria growing together on agar make pretty patterns Marine bacteria kill and digest other bacteria (paper)   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

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 genome. Though many of their genes are unknown in origin and function, many others appear to take the place of essential reproductive functions, such as translation and protein synthesis. This allows them to assume more control of their host's metabolism and control its resources more optimally. In this study, the sequence of a giant virus was discovered seemingly infecting a newly discovered microscopic marine predator. The eukaryotic cell feeds on smaller microbes such as bacteria, but strangely, the virus carries genes for several light-harvesting proteins, possibly converting a heterotrophic predator into a partial phototroph. Journal Paper: Needham DM, Yoshizawa S, Hosaka T, Poirier C, Choi CJ, Hehenberger E, Irwin NAT, Wilken S, Yung C-M, Bachy C, Kurihara R, Nakajima Y, Kojima K, Kimura-Someya T, Leonard G, Malmstrom RR, Mende DR, Olson DK, Sudo Y, Sudek S, Richards TA, DeLong EF, Keeling PJ, Santoro AE, Shirouzu M, Iwasaki W, Worden AZ. 2019. A distinct lineage of giant viruses brings a rhodopsin photosystem to unicellular marine predators. Proc Natl Acad Sci 116:20574–20583. Other interesting stories: Deep-sea mussels collect multiple symbiont microbes to use best one for current environment Microscopic water droplets help bacteria survive on dry leaves   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

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 things are headed need to incorporate the activity of even the smallest organisms, if they're numerous enough. Photosynthesis and other activities of microbes in the oceans are a big sink for carbon, but cycles of other nutrients and also viruses can affect the carbon cycle. In this study, phages infecting photosynthetic ocean bacteria were able to continue their host's uptake of nitrogen from the environment even after mostly shutting down the host's own protein production and growth. This has implications for how viruses affect carbon cycling by cyanobacteria and how quickly populations of these bacteria may grow or die off. Journal Paper: Waldbauer JR, Coleman ML, Rizzo AI, Campbell KL, Lotus J, Zhang L. 2019. Nitrogen sourcing during viral infection of marine cyanobacteria. Proc Natl Acad Sci 116:15590–15595. Other interesting stories: Transplants of gut microbes help koalas eat wider range of food Skin bacteria can help attract (or repulse) mosquitoes (paper)   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Aquatic cyanobacteria first oxygenated earth’s air, making human life possible; now, due to our actions, cyanobacteria are madly blooming once more, poisoning our coasts in the process   Thanks also to our Patreon patrons https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth and our YouTube members.   ___________________________________________   To learn more, start your googling with these keywords:  Cyanobacteria: aquatic photosynthesizing bacteria often erroneously call blue-green algaeBlue-green algae: incorrect name often used for cyanobacteria because they are blue-green in appearance and can be confused with algae    Dead zone: coastal area where cyanobacteria blooms lead to anaerobic conditions, killing fish and other organismsMycrosystins: a class of toxic compounds released by certain cyanobacteria ___________________________________________ Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: Support us on Patreon: And visit our website: https://www.minuteearth.com/   Say hello on Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6 And Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC   And download our videos on itunes:  https://goo.gl/sfwS6n ___________________________________________   Credits (and Twitter handles): Script Writer: Peter Reich Script Editor: David Goldenberg (@dgoldenberg) Video Illustrator: Sarah Berman (@sarahjberman) Video Director: David Goldenberg (@dgoldenberg) Video Narrator: Julián Gómez (@ittakesii) With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Alex Reich, Kate Yoshida, Ever Salazar, Julián Gómez, Arcadi Garcia Rius  Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: ___________________________________________   References:   Bargu S et al.  Mississippi River diversions and phytoplankton dynamics in deltaic Gulf of Mexico estuaries: A review. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 221:39-52 (2019). Berman-Frank I, Lundgren P, Falkowski P. Nitrogen fixation and photosynthetic oxygen evolution in cyanobacteria. Research in Microbiology 154, 157–164 (2003)Carey CC et al. Eco-physiological adaptations that favour freshwater cyanobacteria in a changing climate. Water Research  46, 1394-1407 (2012)Garcia AK et al.  Reconstructed ancestral enzymes suggest long-term cooling of Earth’s photic zone since the Archean. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:4619-4624 (2017)Glass JB, Wolfe-Simon F, Anbar AD.  Coevolution of metal availability and nitrogen assimilation in cyanobacteria and algae. Geobiology 7, 100-123 (2009).Lyons TW, CT Reinhard, NJ Planavsky. The rise of oxygen in Earth’s early ocean and atmosphere Nature 506, 307–315 (2014). Planavsky NJ et al.  The evolution of the marine phosphate reservoir. Nature 467, 1088-1090 (2010)Soo RM et al. On the origins of oxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic respiration in Cyanobacteria. Science 355, 1436–1440 (2017) Tromas N et al. Characterising and predicting cyanobacterial blooms in an 8-year amplicon sequencing time course. ISME J 11:1746-1763 (2017)

This episode: Engineering other organisms to fix nitrogen by combining the required enzyme components into giant proteins that then get cut into the regular-sized subunit components! Download Episode (10.5 MB, 11.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Blastochloris sulfoviridis Journal commentary (paywall) Journal Papers: Yang J, Xie X, Xiang N, Tian Z-X, Dixon R, Wang Y-P. 2018. Polyprotein strategy for stoichiometric assembly of nitrogen fixation components for synthetic biology. Proc Natl Acad Sci 115:E8509–E8517. Other interesting stories: How the human microbiota recovers after antibiotic treatment   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: Some bacteria produce DNA-targeting toxins, which provokes a similar retaliation from other strains. Sometimes this hurts the provoker, but sometimes it is very helpful to them! Thanks to Dr. Despoina Mavridou for her contribution! Download Episode (7.9 MB, 8.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mycobacterium virus Athena News item Journal Paper: Gonzalez D, Sabnis A, Foster KR, Mavridou DAI. 2018. Costs and benefits of provocation in bacterial warfare. Proc Natl Acad Sci 115:7593–7598. Other interesting stories: Bacteria could help plants tolerate salt better Galapagos vampire finch has unusual gut microbes (paper) Using engineered luminescent phages for rapid detection of bacteria   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: A simplified bacterial community in mouse guts doesn't have much community structure, relative to other body areas! Download Episode (8.8 MB, 9.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Rhodomicrobium vannielii News item Journal Paper: Welch JLM, Hasegawa Y, McNulty NP, Gordon JI, Borisy GG. 2017. Spatial organization of a model 15-member human gut microbiota established in gnotobiotic mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:E9105–E9114. Other interesting stories: Studying the microbes found in Chinese hazy air (paper) Sometimes bacteria modify their environment so hard, it kills them (paper) Some ants' bacteria produce the pheromones they use for guidance Modifying plants' microbiota might be difficult due to microbe diversity   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: Certain transposons, genetic elements that move around the genome on their own, have co-opted the bacterial immune system, CRISPR, to use for jumping to new hosts! Thanks to Dr. Joseph Peters for his contribution! Download Episode (10.7 MB, 11.75 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces yokosukanensis Journal Paper: Peters JE, Makarova KS, Shmakov S, Koonin EV. 2017. Recruitment of CRISPR-Cas systems by Tn7-like transposons. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:E7358–E7366. Other interesting stories: Microbe found producing antibiotic previously only known to be man-made (paper) Modifying genetics to change bacterial colony colors Making microbe communities that help plants in specific ways Gut microbes can protect mice against death from sepsis Fungus affects cicada behavior to infect more hosts   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: Unlike most animals, caterpillars don't seem to have a resident gut microbe to help them in various ways! Thanks to Tobin Hammer for his contribution! Download Episode (14 MB, 15.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Borrelia graingeri News item Journal Paper: Hammer TJ, Janzen DH, Hallwachs W, Jaffe SP, Fierer N. 2017. Caterpillars lack a resident gut microbiome. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:9641–9646. Other interesting stories: Improving viral delivery of gene therapy across blood-brain barrier Engineered gut bacteria bind bowel cancer and kill it with vegetables Making bacteria into synthetic phage factories (paper) Preventing contamination of industrial algae cultures using predatory bacteria (paper) Finding potential new antibiotics in cockroach microbes (paper)   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: A stable community of only 7 bacteria around corn roots take on similar functions to the much more diverse soil community! Download Episode (12.5 MB, 13.75 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Corynebacterium insidiosum Journal Paper: Niu B, Paulson JN, Zheng X, Kolter R. 2017. Simplified and representative bacterial community of maize roots. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:E2450–E2459. Other interesting stories: Gut community correlates with inflammatory bowel disease treatment effectiveness Bacteria-produced hydrogen in soil could feed other plant-benefiting microbes (paper) Engineered bacteria could treat genetic disease by digesting things for people who can't (paper) Engineered cancer-killing virus also delivers therapy directly to tumors (paper) Using microbes to create clothing that adapts in color and ventilation (paper)   Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: Roundworms in soil can carry with them bacteria they eat to grow new food, like farmers! Download Episode (11.1 MB, 12.15 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Equid alphaherpesvirus 1 News item Journal Paper: Thutupalli S, Uppaluri S, Constable GWA, Levin SA, Stone HA, Tarnita CE, Brangwynne CP. 2017. Farming and public goods production in Caenorhabditis elegans populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:2289–2294. Other interesting stories: Using modified CRISPR for quick detection of infections Modifying cyanobacterium cell length to make extracting biofuels easier (paper) Fusing phage proteins with antibodies to better target pathogens Some amoebas can penetrate biofilms to feed on dangerous bacteria (paper) Phages have some advantages over antibiotics   Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: Gut microbes can even affect formation/remodeling of bones! Download Episode (8.5 MB, 9.3 minutes) Show notes: Journal Paper: Yan J, Herzog JW, Tsang K, Brennan CA, Bower MA, Garrett WS, Sartor BR, Aliprantis AO, Charles JF. 2016. Gut microbiota induce IGF-1 and promote bone formation and growth. Proc Natl Acad Sci 113:E7554–E7563. Other interesting stories: Raindrops can spread soil bacteria around everywhere Lots to learn from studying sauerkraut (paywall) Only some bacteria in a colony do all the expanding and multiplying (paper) Phage genes help Wolbachia prevent host insects from interbreeding with uninfected hosts (paper) Probiotic bacteria could help prevent damage from heavy metals (paper)   Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: Tiny crustaceans eat paramecia, allowing viruses to infect algae inside them! Download Episode (9.1 MB, 9.9 minutes) Show notes: Follow-up to episode 259: mass-producing worm spit healing protein News item Journal Paper: DeLong JP, Al-Ameeli Z, Duncan G, Etten JLV, Dunigan DD. 2016. Predators catalyze an increase in chloroviruses by foraging on the symbiotic hosts of zoochlorellae. Proc Natl Acad Sci 113:13780–13784. Other interesting stories: Microbes are important for protecting bees Ant bacteria produce potential new antibiotics Old microbes discovered living in mine crystals Skin bacteria could protect against pathogens Author is writing poems in a bacterial genome so they survive the apocalypse (paywall)   Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook  

This episode: Fungus-eating flies transfer viruses that help make fungi less harmful to plants! Download Episode (7.8 MB, 8.5 minutes) Show notes: Another example of viruses doing weird things in this fungus Journal Paper: Liu S, Xie J, Cheng J, Li B, Chen T, Fu Y, Li G, Wang M, Jin H, Wan H, Jiang D. 2016. Fungal DNA virus infects a mycophagous insect and utilizes it as a transmission vector. Proc Natl Acad Sci 113:12803–12808. Other interesting stories: Iron-containing molecules can help various bacteria generate electricity Exercise lifestyle can affect gut community (paper) New discovery of plastic-degrading microbe enzymes Controlling bacterial metabolism dynamically Bacteria in bats could be good at fighting fungal pathogens (paper)   Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: iTunes, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: Vaccinating mice with heat-killed soil bacteria reduced their stressed behavior and inflammation! Download Episode (9.8 MB, 10.7 minutes) Show notes: Journal Paper: Reber SO, Siebler PH, Donner NC, Morton JT, Smith DG, Kopelman JM, Lowe KR, Wheeler KJ, Fox JH, Hassell JE, Greenwood BN, Jansch C, Lechner A, Schmidt D, Uschold-Schmidt N, Füchsl AM, Langgartner D, Walker FR, Hale MW, Perez GL, Treuren WV, González A, Halweg-Edwards AL, Fleshner M, Raison CL, Rook GA, Peddada SD, Knight R, Lowry CA. 2016. Immunization with a heat-killed preparation of the environmental bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae promotes stress resilience in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci 113:E3130–E3139. Other interesting stories: Art with glowing bacteria Making good bacterial tumor killers (paper) It's worth considering plants' microbes in addition to their genes (review) Virus affects how bees are attracted to plants Finding new biofuels algae in wastewater (paper)   Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe at iTunes or Google Play, support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook  

This episode: Microscopic parasites of fish and worms actually came from jellyfish-like animals, after losing most of their genome! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: News item Journal Paper: Chang ES, Neuhof M, Rubinstein ND, Diamant A, Philippe H, Huchon D, Cartwright P. 2015. Genomic insights into the evolutionary origin of Myxozoa within Cnidaria. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112:14912–14917. Other interesting stories: Deodorant use affects armpit microbes Mammals like dolphins have ocean-influenced microbe communities (paper) Relatively few bacteria may have immune systems (paper) Diatoms are attracted to silica minerals Interesting interactions with bear microbes and hibernation   Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter or Facebook  

This episode: Bacteria in hydrothermal vents that feed their host tubeworms evacuate when their hosts perish! Download Episode (9 MB, 9.8 minutes) Show notes: Journal Paper: Klose J, Polz MF, Wagner M, Schimak MP, Gollner S, Bright M. 2015. Endosymbionts escape dead hydrothermal vent tubeworms to enrich the free-living population. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112:11300–11305. Other interesting stories: Making bacteria sensors from phages oriented along electric fields Insecticide-producing bacteria could treat parasite infections Probiotics can help by improving overall gut community (paper) Plant virus could induce immune response against cancer Exercise early in life could develop better microbiome   Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: Viruses can cause host cells to inhibit other viruses! Download Episode (8 MB, 8.75 minutes) Show notes: Journal Paper: Chiba S, Suzuki N. 2015. Highly activated RNA silencing via strong induction of dicer by one virus can interfere with the replication of an unrelated virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112:E4911–E4918. Other interesting stories: Rotating crops helps maintain healthy soil microbe communities Phages can control contamination in biofuel fermentation (paper) Bacteria actually living in wheat plants affect sourdough bread (paper) Fecal transplants of communities can overcome most drug-resistant infections Finding bacteria that can help plants grow (paper)   Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

This episode: Some bacteria seem to cause slime mold amoebas to carry around other bacteria for food! Download Episode (12.4 MB, 13.5 minutes) Show notes: News item Journal Paper: DiSalvo S, Haselkorn TS, Bashir U, Jimenez D, Brock DA, Queller DC, Strassmann JE. 2015. Burkholderia bacteria infectiously induce the proto-farming symbiosis of Dictyostelium amoebae and food bacteria. Proc Natl Acad Sci 112:E5029–E5037. Other interesting stories: Fish oil vs. lard affect gut microbes differently Engineered mix of engineered bacteria produce controlled oscillations Mutation and selection makes better biomass-degrading enzymes Antibodies can be produced inside bacteria (paper) Fungus can be used to kill mosquitoes (paper) Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter or Facebook