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...
Sep 06, 2021•8 min•Ep. 461
This episode: A bacterial communication signal makes algae stop growing, which helps them survive virus attacks! Download Episode (5.3 MB, 7.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Veillonella parvula Takeaways Many interesting interactions between microbes take place in the ocean. As single-celled organisms lacking complex sensory organs, many such interactions and communications are mediated by chemical signals. Some bacteria, for example, each produce small amounts of certain chemicals...
Aug 16, 2021•8 min•Ep. 460
This episode: Transplanting microbes from some corals to others could help the corals survive high temperatures! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces olivaceoviridis News item Takeaways The ever-rising temperatures of our modern world are putting more and more stress on various ecosystems. This is true even on the ocean floor: record-high temperatures damage reefs by causing coral bleaching, in which corals lose their photosynthetic endosymbiont...
Aug 02, 2021•8 min•Ep. 459
This episode: Bacteria can resist the force of gravity in liquid culture by covering themselves with goopy sugar polymers like parachutes! Download Episode (10.4 MB, 15.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brevicoryne brassicae virus Takeaways Put bacteria in a centrifuge, and most of the time you end up with a compact pellet of cells at the bottom of the tube, and mostly cell-free liquid above it. Bacteria do have ways to remain suspended in liquid, even without constant stirring or s...
Jul 19, 2021•15 min•Ep. 458
This episode: Newspapers report on scientific studies about microbiomes a fair amount, but certain kinds of studies are more likely than others to show up in the news! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cafeteriavirus-dependent mavirus Takeaways Research into the human microbiome has generated a lot of interest, even among non-scientists. This is especially true since the beginning of the Human Microbiome Project in 2007. But sometimes things are lost in t...
Jun 28, 2021•8 min•Ep. 457
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 ab...
Jun 21, 2021•10 min•Ep. 456
This episode, in honor of World Ocean Day: Bacteria that may move between high and low pressure areas in the ocean use a particular molecule to protect their cells from being crushed! Download Episode (6.6 MB, 9.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Rickettsia rickettsii News item Takeaways Life in the ocean can have many challenges, depending on the organism and where it lives. Microbes can be found in almost every region, from the warmest to coldest, brightest to darkest, and shallowe...
Jun 07, 2021•10 min•Ep. 455
This episode: Spores of some bacteria latch onto the tails of other bacteria and ride along as they move around in the soil! Download Episode (5.5 MB, 8.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bohle iridovirus News item Takeaways The soil is a complex environment, and microbes that live in soil need complex lifestyles to thrive. There are many examples of cooperation, competition, and other adaptations to highly varied situations. In this study, bacteria that grow like filamentous fungi d...
May 31, 2021•8 min•Ep. 454
This episode: Some bacteria produce antibiotics that can also help them gather more nutrients! Download Episode (5.0 MB, 7.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Diadromus pulchellus toursvirus News item 1 Takeaways Antibiotics have saved a lot of lives since they were discovered and used to treat many previously untreatable bacterial infections. But bacteria themselves have been making antibiotics much longer than we have, to help compete in their environment. However, sometimes these c...
May 24, 2021•7 min•Ep. 453
This episode: Single-celled eukaryotes can thrive without oxygen with the help of bacterial endosymbionts that respire nitrate the way our mitochondria respire oxygen! Thanks to Jon Graf for his contribution! Download Episode (12.4 MB, 18.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brenneria salicis News item 1 / News item 2 Takeaways The combination of a bacterium and other microbe into the first eukaryote was a big advance in evolutionary history; it made possible the huge variety of differ...
May 03, 2021•18 min•Ep. 452
This episode: Despite being photosynthetic, some kinds of algae engage in predatory behavior, hunting and consuming live bacteria! Download Episode (4.9 MB, 7.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus 1 News item Takeaways Although most of them are microscopic, algae perform a significant portion of the photosynthesis on the planet, because there are so many of them. But even though photosynthesis seems like a reliable way of acquiring energy, there are c...
Apr 19, 2021•7 min•Ep. 451
This episode: Lighting in caves open to tourists supports the growth of unwanted photosynthetic bacteria! Download Episode (6.6 MB, 9.5 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dill cryptic virus 2 Takeaways Caves can contain amazing beauty, intricate geological formations formed by minerals, water, and time. Some, such as Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, have been fitted with instruments to allow tourists to pass through and see the wonders within; definitely a worthwhile experience. Caves a...
Apr 05, 2021•10 min•Ep. 450
This episode: Deep-sea bacteria can detoxify cadmium and convert it to light-capturing particles! Download Episode (5.8 MB, 8.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Arthrobacter virus Sonny Takeaways Hydrothermal vents can have thriving communities, despite being too deep for much light to penetrate. Microbes can derive energy from chemicals coming out of the vent, and form the foundation of the food chain. But toxic heavy metals also come out of the vent, including lead, mercury, and ca...
Mar 29, 2021•8 min•Ep. 449
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 environme...
Mar 22, 2021•7 min•Ep. 448
This episode: Giant bacteria with many chromosomes in each cell carry extra genes to help them live in many different environments! Download Episode (8.7 MB, 12.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Propionibacterium virus SKKY News item Takeaways We think of bacteria a certain way: too small to see and having mostly just a single large chromosome with all the genes they need for their lifestyle and not much more. And most bacteria are like that. But not all! Giant bacteria exist, some ...
Feb 08, 2021•13 min•Ep. 447
This episode: The biofilm that probiotic bacteria can leave behind on a titanium implant seems to help it integrate better with the existing skeleton, with less inflammation and risk of infection! Download Episode (5.5 MB, 7.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Methylobacterium organophilum News item Takeaways Skeletal implants make it a lot easier for many people to stay mobile as they age, but the surgical procedure of implanting is risky. Its invasive nature puts stress on the immun...
Feb 01, 2021•8 min•Ep. 446
This episode: Engineered bacteria encapsulated in little beads sense chemicals from landmines and give off light! Download Episode (6.4 MB, 9.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bifidobacterium pullorum Takeaways Landmines are a good way to take an enemy by surprise and do some damage. They're so good that some places in the world still aren't safe to go decades after a conflict, due to intact landmines hidden in the area. In order to detect them from a distance to aid in disarming ef...
Jan 25, 2021•9 min•Ep. 445
This episode: An interesting bacterial genetic element protects against viruses in a unique way! Download Episode (7.1 MB, 10.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mongoose associated gemykibivirus 1 News item Takeaways Even single-celled, microscopic organisms such as bacteria have to deal with deadly viruses infecting them. And while they don't have an immune system with antibodies and macrophages like we do, they still have defenses against infection, mostly based on sensing and dest...
Jan 18, 2021•10 min•Ep. 444
This episode: Certain gut microbes protect mice from harmful effects of high-energy radiation! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Solenopsis invicta virus-1 News item Takeaways High-energy radiation can be very dangerous. Besides a long-term increased risk of cancer due to DNA damage, a high enough dose of radiation can cause lethal damage to multiple systems in the body, especially the gastrointestinal tract and the immune system. Finding new ways to tre...
Jan 11, 2021•11 min•Ep. 443
This episode: Algae surviving impact that killed the dinosaurs seem to have consumed other organisms to make it through the dark times! Download Episode (7.1 MB, 10.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Chaetoceros tenuissimus RNA virus 01 News item Takeaways Being able to look through time and learn about what might have happened to creatures throughout Earth's history is what makes paleontology great. Everyone knows about dinosaurs and what happened to them at the end of the Cretaceou...
Dec 28, 2020•10 min•Ep. 442
This episode: A fungus-infecting virus transforms the fungal foe into a friend of its host plant! Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hepacivirus J News item Takeaways Viruses can be useful for treating various diseases, especially bacterial infections and cancer. Their ability to target certain cell types specifically makes them great at hunting down and killing disease-causing cells without harming the body's healthy tissue. And just as bacteriophages can...
Dec 21, 2020•9 min•Ep. 441
This episode: Bacteria pay for the privilege of cruising around soil on fungus filaments! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Clostridium acetobutylicum News item Takeaways In the complex environment of soil, many different kinds of organisms coexist. Some compete with each other, while others cooperate in fascinating interactions. One example is how bacteria can swim through a film of water surrounding the filaments of fungi, allowing them to traverse mor...
Dec 14, 2020•11 min•Ep. 440
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 tha...
Nov 30, 2020•7 min•Ep. 439
This episode: Actinomycete bacteria are often helpful to insects, but some can be deadly yet still attractive! Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces corchorusii News item Takeaways Actinomycete bacteria do a lot of interesting things. They grow like fungi, with mycelia and spores, and produce many interesting compounds, including antibiotics and other useful pharmaceuticals. They often team up with insects, producing such compounds to assist them...
Nov 16, 2020•8 min•Ep. 438
This episode: Warmth helps mice build stronger bones, mediated by bacteria producing certain compounds! Download Episode (6.8 MB, 9.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Aquaspirillum serpens News item Takeaways Bones aren't just solid, structural supports for the body's tissues. They're active and alive, housing important components of the immune system, and also capable of being broken down and built up in response to changes in the body's interactions with the environment. Various th...
Nov 09, 2020•10 min•Ep. 437
This episode: Copper electrodes, rather than killing bacteria in microbial fuel cells, allow them to generate higher densities of electric current! Download Episode (5.0 MB, 7.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Xipapillomavirus 2 News item Takeaways Copper is widely used as a way to make surfaces and materials antimicrobial, to cut down on the spread of pathogens in hospitals and other environments. Among other mechanisms, it reacts with oxygen to form reactive oxygen species that ar...
Oct 26, 2020•7 min•Ep. 436
This episode: Combining Salmonella with something called photoimmunotherapy to attack tumors in multiple ways! Download Episode (8.2 MB, 11.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Shimwellia blattae Takeaways Distinguishing healthy from unhealthy tissue is one of the big challenges when dealing with cancer. Since cancer is derived from healthy tissue, there are many similarities between them that make it hard to target it specifically. This is especially important when cancer is spread in...
Oct 19, 2020•12 min•Ep. 435
This episode: Large phage discovered that contains a compact version of the CRISPR/Cas defense/gene editing system! Download Episode (5.9 MB, 8.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Stenotrophomonas virus IME13 News item Takeaways CRISPR/Cas systems have made a lot of things in gene editing much easier in certain organisms. It's almost as easy as just getting the cells to produce the Cas protein and putting in an RNA sequence to tell it where to go! But in some cases, these requirements...
Sep 28, 2020•9 min•Ep. 434
This episode: A probiotic can protect intestine-like cell growths from destruction by pathogens, but it can also be infected by a virus that makes it more harmful to intestinal cells! Download Episode (6.9 MB, 10.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Euphorbia yellow mosaic virus News item Takeaways There are many strains of Escherichia coli . Some are pathogenic, in the gut or the urinary tract, and a subset of those are very dangerous, such as the enterohemorrhagic O157:H7 strain. Man...
Sep 21, 2020•10 min•Ep. 433
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...
Sep 07, 2020•5 min•Ep. 432
