This Week In Microbiology

Mark Martin returns to TWiM to join the discussion of how to design a complex gut microbiome, and protection of protists from virus infection by intracellular bacterial symbionts. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Design of a complex gut microbiome (Cell) Defensive symbiosis against giant viruses (PNAS) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Music by Ronald Jenkees. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM reveals how to inactivate norovirus on formica surfaces, and how to achieve antibiotic resistance by suppression of a frameshift mutation in an essential gene. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Effect of wiping on norovirus inactivation (Appl Env Micro) Chlorine dilution calculator (Ontario Pub Health) Antibiotic resistance by frameshift suppression (PNAS) Resistance to rifampicin (Nature) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Music by Ronald Jenkees. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM explores the activation of natural product synthesis using CRISPR interference in Streptomyces, and how light/dark and temperature cycling modulate Electron Flow in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Activating natural product synthesis (Nucleic Acids Res) Light and temperature modulate biofilm electron flow (mBio) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM presents a novel mucosal COVID-19 vaccine based on a bacteriophage capsid, and potentiation of C. difficile infection severity by the gut bacterial community. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode: Bacteriophage based COVID-19 vaccine (mBio) Gut microbiome potentiates C. difficile disease (mBio) Letters read on TWiM 271 Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM explores the use of Archaea to produce plastics from molasses wastewater, and a bacterial defense against bacteriophage infection that involves depletion of deoxynucleotides. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Improving plastics production by Archaea (Appl Environ Micro) Biodegradability of PHA (Green Chem) What does tesla mean for an MRI and its magnet? (GE) Bacteria deplete nucleotides to block phages (Nat Micro) Antiphage hotspots in bacteria (TWiM 265) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM reviews discovery of a bacterium that is visible to the naked eye, and reversible resistance to bacteriophage by shedding of the bacterial cell wall. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode A bacterium that is not a microbe (Science) Overwhelming microbial greatness (TWiM 261) Medical illustrator Kellie Holoski Bacteriophage resistance by shedding cell wall (Open Biol) Who came first, monderms or diderms? (Nat Ecol Evol) Letters read on TWiM 269 Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM discusses citizen science surveillance of drug-resistant Aspergillus in garden soil, and the mechanism of action of a copper dependent antibiotic. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Fanny Hesse (Microbial Menagerie) Citizen science surveillance of Aspergillus (App Envir Micro) Aspergillum (Wikipedia) DMDC, copper dependent antibiotic (Infect Immun) National Summer Undergraduate Research Project Letters read on TWiM 268 Take the TWiM Listener survey! Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

From ASM Microbe 2022 in Washington, DC, Heran joins TWiM to discuss her career and her work on the agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson Guest: Heran Darwin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Honey badger of pathogens (EMBO Rep) Pup-proteasome system (PNAS) Cytokinin signaling in M. tuberculosis (mBio) Bandwagoning (EMBO Rep) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM explains how spindle-shaped Archaeal viruses evolved from rod-shaped ancestors to package a larger genome, and transcriptional recording by CRISPR acquisition from RNA. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode From rods to spindles (Cell) Spindle-shaped virus movie (Cell) Bacteria that record (Science) Transcriptional recording with CRISPR (Nature) Letters read on TWiM 266 TWiM Listener survey

TWiM explains the discovery of hotspots of genetic variation containing reservoirs of anti-phage systems in E. coli phages and their parasitic satellites, and pathogen desiccation tolerance promoted by hydrophilins. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Phage and satellite antiviral systems (Cell Host Micro) Hydropilins promote desiccation tolerance (Cell Host Micro) Letters read on TWiM 265 TWiM Listener survey Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM reveals that the atypical antipsychotic quetiapine promotes multiple antibiotic resistance in E. coli, and treatment with Bifidobacterium lactis probiotic benefits patients with coronary artery disease. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode: Antipsychotic promotes antimicrobial resistance (J Bact) Probiotic benefits patients with coronary artery disease (mSystems) B. lactis and Alzheimer’s in mice (Eur J Nutr) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM explains the use of lavender oil to disrupt Listeria biofilms, and how treatment of catheters with liquid silicone reduces associated urinary tract infections. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Lavender oil prevents biofilms (Lett Appl Micro) Silicone-infused catheters reduce infection (eLife) Viable but not culturable (TWiM 179) Letters read on TWiM 263 TWiM Listener survey Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM welcomes new host Petra Levin, and explains how a small protein helps ensure that E. coli utilizes a preferred carbon source, and a screening strategy to identify inhibitors of the type IV secretion system that is essential for virulence of a variety of bacterial pathogens. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode A small protein regulates carbon utilization (PNAS) Inhibitors of type IV secretion systems (mBio) Letters read on TWiM 262 TWiM Listener survey

Mark returns to TWiM to join in a discussion of soil microbiota as game-changers in restoration of degraded lands, and discovery of a centimeter-long bacterium, the biggest yet discovered. Guest: Mark O. Martin Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode: Game-changing soil microbiota (Science) A World Without Soil by Jo Handlesman A World Without Soil video (YouTube) Centimeter-long bacteria (bioRxiv) How large can a bacteria get? (YouTube) Giant bacteria (YouTube) Three faces of Thiomargarita (Small Things Considered) The microbe that could be seen (Small Things Considered) Energetics of the eukaryotic edge (Small Things Considered) A lakeside tale (Small Things Considered) Letters read on TWiM 261 Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

In this food-centric TWiM, we reveal the microbiomes of carnivorous vulture bees and of Gala apples from all over the world. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Microbiome of vulture bees (mBio) Bees previously in TWiM 245 Microbiome of Gala apples (Envir Micro) Apple flower microbiome (mBio) TWiM Listener survey Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

Mark Martin returns to TWiM for a discussion of the frightening global burden of bacterial antibiotic resistance, and a solution to the problem of daylight nitrogen fixation in a cyanobacterium, despite the incompatibility of nitrogenase with oxygen produced during photosynthesis. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode: Global bacterial antimicrobial resistance (Nat Micro) Cancer moon shot (NCI) When antibiotics don’t work (TED) Cyanobacterium buoyancy (Nat Micro) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM explains how bacterial symbionts regulate tick blood feeding activity, and the reasons why antibiotics exist. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, and Michael Schmidt Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. Become a Patron of TWiM! Links for this episode: Symbionts help ticks to feed (Cell Host Microbe) Why do antibiotics exist? (mBio) Shorter is still better (J Hosp Med) Shorter vs longer antibiotic courses (J Hosp Med) Francis Tally and tigecycline (Clin Inf Dis) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

On this episode of TWiM, how phages prevent other phages from invading their hosts without blocking their own reproduction, and plastic-degrading potential of microbes across the Earth. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode: Prophages encode phage-defense systems with cognate self-immunity (Cell Host Microbe) Prophages self-destruct to eliminate competitors (Cell Host Microbe) Plastic-degrading potential across global microbiome (mBio) Plastics in our foods (ENV media) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM discusses antigenic variation within dengue virus serotypes, and an mRNA vaccine that induces antibodies against tick proteins and prevents transmission of the Lyme disease agent. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michael Schmidt and Michele Swanson Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. Links for this episode: Dengue virus antigenic variation (eLife) mRNA vaccine induces tick resistance (Sci Transl Med) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

TWiM reveals a study showing that positive interactions among bacteria are far more common than previously thought, and how acquisition of a single gene enabled Yersinia pestis to expand the range of mammalian hosts that sustain flea-borne plague. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michele Swanson, and Michael Schmidt Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Android, RSS, or by email. Become a Patron of TWiM! Links for this episode: Positive interactions are common among bacteria (Sci Adv) Expansion of mammal hosts for flea-borne plague (PLoS Path) Hurling fleas (TWiM #80) Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv