This Week In Microbiology

The TWiMsters explain why untreatable typhoid fever might be on the way, and the evolution of fungal virulence in tropical frogs. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Extensively drug resistant Salmonella typhi (mBio) A Gathering Storm (mBio) Typhoid vaccine recommendations (CDC) Changes in dynamics of frog fungal disease (Science) Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv  

The Masters of the Microbiological Universe discuss the humongouest fungus, and a commensal bacterium that protects against skin neoplasia. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Fertile prototaxites (Proc Royal Soc B) The humongousest fungus (STC) Commensal Staphylococcus protects against skin cancer (Sci Adv) Letters read on TWiM 173 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv  

The TWiMmers discuss culture-independent discovery of malacidin antibiotics, and unfolding of relaxase during bacterial conjugation. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Malacidins from soils (Nat Micro) Excellent antibiotic resistance threat report (CDC, pdf) Jo Handelsman on Women’s History Month (CBS) Unfolding relaxase during bacterial conjugation (J Bact) Letters read on TWiM 172 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

The TWiM team explores a stingless bee that requires a fungal steroid to pupate, and colonic biofilms containing tumorigenic bacteria in patients with colorectal polyps. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Bee larvae require fungal steroid to pupate (Sci Rep) Biofilm refuge for tumorigenic bacteria (Science) Letters read on TWiM 171 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

The TWiM team reveals that spread of plague was likely by human ectoparasites, not rats, and deconstruct a durable, broadly protective protein nanoparticle influenza virus vaccine. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Ectoparasites and plague (PNAS) SIR model for spread of disease (MAA) Protein nanoparticle flu vaccines (Nat Commun) Food washing (USDA) Image credit Letters read on TWiM 170 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv  

The cast of TWiM reveals how uropathogenic E. coli use a copper-binding protein to treat copper as a nutrient or a toxin, and Antarctic soil bacteria that survive on trace atmospheric gases. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Copper import in E. coli (Nat Chem Biol) Conversion of OD to cells/ml for E. coli Nutritional immunity with Jennifer Bomberger (TWiM#141) Microbes live on atmospheric trace gases in Antarctic soil (Nature) Antarctic terrestrial ecosystem (SciHub) Hypolith (Wikipedia) Breatharians (Broadly) Image credit Letters read on TWiM 169Letters read on TWiM 169 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

Dickson joins the TWiM team to discuss the nasal microbiota of dairy farmers, and attenuation of bacterial virulence by quorum sensing in the maize weevil. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson. Guest: Dickson Despommier Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode: Nasal microbiota of dairy farmers (PLoS One) Measuring species richness, diversity, similarity (pdf one, pdf two) Quorum sensing attenuates virulence (Cell Host Micr)   Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv    

How pandemic influenza viruses suppress immunogenic cell death, and 3D printing of bacteria into functional materials.

Vincent and Elio discuss the reason for poor efficacy of one of the influenza virus vaccines, and using a hyperthermophilic anaerobe to produce hydrogen from fruit and vegetable wastes in seawater. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the ASM Podcast app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Glycosylation site on influenza H3N2 viruses (PNAS) Biohydrogen production by Thermotoga (Waste Man) Image credit Letters read on TWiM 166 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

The TWiM team discusses the use of copper on exercise weights to reduce bacterial burden, and the mechanism of antigenic variation by which a fungus that causes severe pneumonia escapes the immune system. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson Links for this episode: Reducing bacteria on exercise weights with copper (Am J Inf Contr) Antigenic variation in Pneumocystis jirovecii (mBio) Letters read on TWiM 165

From Indiana University, Vincent speaks with Ankur, Julia, and Xindan about their careers and their work on horizontal gene transfer, quorum sensing, and chromosome organization in bacteria. Guests: Ankur Dalia, Julia Van Kessel, and Xindan Wang Watch the video version! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifGCe-qfnA0 Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode: Dalia laboratory Van Kessel laboratory Wang laboratory Indiana U Dept of Biology Vibrio DNA uptake and chitin (Environ Micro) Activation of quorum-sensing genes (Mol Micro) Structural maintenance of chromosome complexes (Science)

This episode is all about saliva: how certain bacteria survive in it, and how swallowing saliva might cause intestinal inflammation. Links for this episode: Genes for the Streptococcus pyogenes fitness in human saliva (mSphere) Swallowed bacteria drive colonic inflammation (Science) Intestinal inflammation induced by oral bacteria (Science) Human oral microbiome (J Bact) T cell subsets (Nat Rev Imm) Image credit

The TWiM hosts and associated microbiomes review a fungus destroying salamanders in Europe, and genes for flagella in intracellular bacteria. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Fungus killing fire salamanders (Nature) Chlamydia with flagella (ISME J) Flagellar movement in rickettsia (PLoS One) Image credit Letters read on TWiM 162 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv This episode is brought to you by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Part of the U.S. Department of Defense, the Agency’s Chemical and Biological Technologies Department hosts the 2017 Chemical and Biological Defense Science & Technology Conference to exchange information on the latest and most dynamic developments for countering chemical and biologica

From the TWiM team, a discussion of Hurricane Harvey microbiology, and a bacterial enzyme that induces eukaryotic mating. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Tainted Houston floodwaters (NYTimes) Peter Hotez on TWiP 29 FAQ: Microbiology of Built Environments, American Academy of Microbiology Microbiomes of the Built Environment:  A Research Agenda for Indoor Microbiology, Human Health, and Buildings, The National Academies of Sciences Eukaryotic mating induced by bacterial enzyme (Cell) Image credit: Arielle Woznica Nicole King on TWiEVO 11 Letters read on TWiM 161 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv This episode is brought to you by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Part of the U.S. Department of Defense,

The TWiM team provides an update on Zika virus, and reveals a plasmid on the road to becoming a virus. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Regional Zika update, Americas (PAHO, WHO) FGCU, Zika (TWiV 454) CDC Graphic of US zika cases as of May 2017 Archaeal plasmid travels cell to cell via vesicles (Nature Micro) Letters read on TWiM 160 Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv This episode is brought to you by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Part of the U.S. Department of Defense, the Agency’s Chemical and Biological Technologies Department hosts the 2017 Chemical and Biological Defense Science & Technology Conference to exchange information on the latest and most dynamic developments for countering chemical and biological weapons o

The TWiM team pays a tribute to Chris Condayan, and investigates the synergy between virus and the innate immune system for clearing bacterial pneumonia by phage therapy.

The TWiM team considers a report on prokaryotic viral DNA in mammalian brain, and how diarrhea is beneficial, by clearing enteric pathogens. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Prokaryotic viral sequence in the brain (PNAS) Diarrhea clears enteric pathogens (Cell Host Microbe) Tight junction biology (Turner Laboratory) Letters read on TWiM 158   Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv  

The TWiMbionts explore the role of bacteria in the genesis of moonmilk, and how ancient host proteins can be used to engineer resistance to virus infection. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Role of Streptomyces in moonmilk (bioRxiv) TWiM 51: Cave science with Hazel Barton Moonmilk (Wikipedia) Ancient proteins for virus resistance (Cell Rep) Image credit Letters read on TWiM 157  Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv  

The TWiM team explains the use of microbial genome mining to identify new drugs, and how a bacterial symbiont protects flies against parasitoid wasps. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Molecular beacons identify gifted microbes (J Antibiot) Defensive symbiosis (PLoS Path) Letters read on TWiM 156 Image Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv  

Michele updates the TWiMers on Legionella in the Flint water supply, and Elio informs us about how horizontally acquired biosynthesis genes boost the physiology of Coxiella burnetii. Hosts:  Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Elio Schaechter. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iPhone, Android, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app. Become a patron of TWiM. Links for this episode Legionella in Flint water (The Scientist) Q fever with Robert Heinzen (TWiM Special) Horizontally acquired genes boost C. burnetii (Front Cell Inf Micro) Image credit Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv