This Week In Microbiology

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michele Swanson, and Michael Schmidt. A deep sequencing study of commercially available probiotics, and design and synthesis of a minimal bacterial genome are the topics tackled by Vincent, Michael, and Michele on this episode of TWiM. 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 episode Culture-independent surveillance of probiotics (mSphere) Design and synthesis of a minimal bacterial genome (Science) J. Craig Venter Institute Image credit Letters read on TWiM 125 This episode is sponsored by ASM Agar Art Contest and ASM Microbe 2016 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.    

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michele Swanson, and Michael Schmidt. Vincent, Michael, and Michele reveal how a fungal protease blunts the innate immune response and promotes pathogenicity. 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 episode Michele on Flint Legionella outbreak (Detroit News) Fungal mimicry of a mammalian aminopeptidase (Cell Host Micr)   This episode is sponsored by ASM Agar Art Contest and ASM Microbe 2016 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Elio Schaechter. Guest: Harris Wang Harris joins Vincent, Elio, and Michael to describe multiplex automated genome engineering, a method for targeting many modifications in a population of bacterial cells. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Links for this episode  MAGE - Multiplex automated genome engineering (Nature) Genome-scale promoter engineering (Nat Methods) Manipulating microbial communities in situ (Trends Genet) Engineering human microbiomes (Meth Mol Biol) Genome-scale engineering (Mol Syst Biol) Economic framework of microbial trade (PLoS One) Tardigrade t-shirt Image credit This episode is sponsored by Microbe Magazine Podcast and ASM Microbe 2016 Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv.  

Vincent, Michele, and Michael reveal the discovery of a new species of the spirochaete that causes Lyme disease, and fecal microRNAs that shape the gut microbiome. 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 episode Identification of a novel Borrelia species causing Lyme disease (Lancet Inf Dis) Parasite wonders with Bobbi Pritt (TWiP 75) Reported cases of Lyme disease (CDC) Signs and symptoms of Lyme disease (CDC) Multilocus sequence typing Borrelia MLST database American Academy of Microbiology FAQ Human microbiome Host fecal microRNA shapes gut microbiota (Cell) Image credit C.U.R.E. the game Live Tiny, Die Never - Tardigrade T-shirt This episode is sponsored by Microbe Magazine Podcast and ASM Microbe 2016 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and

Host: Vincent Racaniello Special guests: Rebekah Kading and Wyndham Lathem From the ASM Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research meeting, Vincent speaks with Rebekah and Wyndham about their work on Rift Valley Fever virus and other vector-borne pathogens, and the evolution and pathogenesis of Yersinia pestis, the agent of plague. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Links for this episode  Rift Valley fever virus risk (Emerg Micr Inf) Predicting Rift Valley fever virus transmission (PLoS NTD) Culex in New York City (BioOne) Early emergence of Y. pestis (Nature Comm) Pneumonic plague (Trends Micro) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Elio Schaechter. Vincent and Elio marvel in the finding that a phage tail-like structure from a marine bacterium stimulates tubeworm metamorphosis, and reveal Ophidiomyces as a cause of snake fungal disease. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Links for this episode  Tubeworm metamorphosis by phage tail-like structures (Science) Cell enzyme becomes viral capsid protein (virology blog) Snake fungal disease in the laboratory (mBioi) Snake fungal disease in cottonmouths (PLoS Biol) Snake fungal disease (pdf) Image credit This episode is sponsored by ASM Grant Writing Institute Online Webinar and 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv.  

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Elio Schaechter. The microbophiles investigate the ratio of bacterial to human cells in our bodies, and how placing solar panels on a bacterium enables it to carry out photosynthesis. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Links for this episode  Revised estimates of human and bacterial cells in the body (biorxiv) Power of ten (Small Things Considered) Solar-to-chemical production in bacteria (Science) Letters read on TWiM 119 This episode is sponsored by ASM Grant Writing Institute Online Webinar and 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv. Thumbnail image: Cell structure of a gram positive bacterium. This vector image is completely made by Ali Zifan - Own work; used information from Biology 10e T

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter and Michele Swanson On the last episode for 2015, Vincent, Elio, and Michele discuss how soil amoeba hunt nematodes in packs, and the role of mushrooms as rainmakers. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Links for this episode  Pack hunting by a common soil amoeba on nematodes (Environ Micro) Mushrooms as rainmakers (PLoS One) Mushroom by Nicholas Money In the Company of Mushrooms by Elio Schaechter Image credit Letters read on TWiM 118 This episode is sponsored by ASM Microbe 2016 and ASM Biodefense Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv.

The TWiM team marvels over the finding of a completely nitrifying Nitrospira, and horizontal gene transfer from Wolbachia into an animal genome. Links for this episode: Complete nitrification by Nitrospira bacteria (Nature one, two) Enigmatic comammox (PhysOrg) Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (Ann Rev Micro) Tardigrade controversy (SciAlert) Horizontal gene transfer from Wolbachia to grasshopper (PeerJ) Thumbnail Image (nitrogen cycle) credit Letters read on TWiM 117 This episode is sponsored by ASM Microbe 2016 and ASM Biodefense Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter and Michele Swanson The TWiMeriti reveal a Brazilian social bee that must cultivate a fungus to survive, and diet-mediated reduction in gut colonization by Candida albicans. Links for this episode  Bee cultivates fungus to survive (Curr Biol) Diet reduces C. albicans gut colonization (mSphere) mSphere, a new open-access ASM journal Image credit Letters read on TWiM 116 This episode is sponsored by ASM Biodefense and the 32nd Clinical Virology Symposium. Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv.

Vincent visits the laboratories of Kit and Joseph Pogliano on the campus of the University of California, San Diego, where he learns about their work on the bacterial cytoskeleton, sporulation, and the effects of antibiotics on bacterial cells. Visit microbeworld.org/twim for complete shownotes including the special video version of this episode. Thanks for listening and watching!

Vincent, Elio, and Michele meet with Harry Mobley, Mary O’Riordan, and Vince Young at the University of Michigan, during the designation of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology as a Milestones in Microbiology site. They discuss how the laboratory has advanced the science and teaching of microbiology, and discuss faculty work on uropathogenic E. coli, induction of stress by bacterial infection, and the gut microbiome. Visit microbeworld.org/twim for more including the special video version of this episode.

Vincent meets up with Romney and Duncan at the 79th annual meeting of the Southern California branch of the American Society for Microbiology, where they talk about emerging technologies for antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and next generation sequencing and advanced molecular diagnostics. Visit microbeworld.org/twim to watch the video version and for complete shownotes including links mentioned.

The TWiM team wonders why definitions in biology often change, and discuss how the small molecule terrein is important for the growth of a soil fungus. Image: Lesion formation on banana surfaces infected with Aspergillus terreus. Source Links mentioned:   ASM Undergraduate Research Capstone Program ASM Undergraduate Fellowship Program Regulation of terrein production in Aspergillus terreus Visit microbeworld.org/twim for more.  

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Elio Schaechter. The TWiMitos discuss the reconstruction of a 1,000-year-old antimicrobial remedy, and using gallium as an antimicrobial in the battle for iron. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Links for this episode  1,000 year old antimicrobial (mBio) Siderophore quenching with gallium (Evol Med Pub Health) Evolutionary dynamics of public goods (J Evol Biol) Image credit Letters read on TWiM 111 Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

The TWiM team focuses on the gut microbiome, from a single member, Akkermansia muciniphila, to the effect of antibiotics on its composition and colonization resistance against C. difficile. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Links for this episode  Agar art contest Akkermansia muciniphilia and obesity (Gut) A. muciniphilia genome (Biol Direct) Alterations of gut microbiota and C. difficile colonization (mBio) Science Delivered Girls Who Code F.E.M.M.E.S. Association for Women in Science UMich Host-Microbiome Initiative UMich anaerobic chamber room (png)

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 Wolbachiakills male hosts (PLoS Biol) Wolbachia phage on TWiV 332   Image: Transmission electron micrograph of Wolbachia within an insect cell. By: Scott O'Neill - Genome Sequence of the Intracellular Bacterium Wolbachia. PLoS Biol 2/3/2004: e76.

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 Microbeworld app. Links for this episode Rescuing biomedical research (eLife) Rethinking graduate and postdoc education (iBiology) Oral cholera vaccine trial (Lancet)  Inexpensive cholera vaccine (NYTimes) Image credit Letters read on TWiM 108

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 (Sci Adv) Urinary composition controls siderocalin activity (J Biol Chem) Urine acidity and UTI susceptibility (Infect Cont Today) Image (from pdb file 3cmp) shows siderocalin (magenta) complexed with iron (orange) and enterobactin (sticks) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

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