This Week in Microbiology

TWiM 122: Mayonii, microRNAs, and the microbiome

February 26, 2016

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson

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.

Right click to download TWiM#122 (46 MB .mp3, 64 minutes).

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

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)
C.U.R.E. the game
Live Tiny, Die Never – Tardigrade T-shirt
Image credit
Letters read on TWiM 122

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 to [email protected].

TWiM 121: A plague of pathogens

February 11, 2016

Host: Vincent Racaniello

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.

Right click to download TWiM#121 (42 MB .mp3, 58 minutes).

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)
Video of this episode – view above or at YouTube

This episode is sponsored by ASM Grant Writing 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 to [email protected].

TWiM 120: Snakes in trouble

February 2, 2016

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.

Right click to download TWiM#120 (35 MB .mp3, 49 minutes).

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
Letters read on TWiM 120

This episode is sponsored by ASM Grant Writing 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 to [email protected].

TWiM 119: Power of one

January 16, 2016

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.

Right click to download TWiM#119 (46 MB .mp3, 73 minutes).

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)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiM 119

This episode is sponsored by ASM Grant Writing 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 to [email protected].

TWiM 118: Spore-drops keep fallin’ on my head

January 4, 2016

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.

Right click to download TWiM#118 (47 MB .mp3, 66 minutes).

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 [email protected].

TWiM 117: Finding the comammox

December 18, 2015

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Elio Schaechter and Michele Swanson.

The TWiM team marvels over the finding of a completely nitrifying Nitrospira, and horizontal gene transfer from Wolbachia into an animal genome.

Right click to download TWiM#117 (51 MB .mp3, 71 minutes).

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

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)
Image 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 [email protected].

TWiM 116: Chewates and coconuts

December 2, 2015

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.

Right click to download TWiM#116 (41 MB .mp3, 61 minutes).

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

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 to [email protected]

TWiM 115: Profiling the Poglianos

November 20, 2015

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Special guests: Kit Pogliano and Joe Pogliano

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.

Right click to download TWiM #115 (40 MB .mp3, 56 minutes).

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

Kit Pogliano laboratory
Joseph Pogliano laboratory
We discussed the Poglianos’ work on TWiM #28 and TWiM #70
Cytological profiling (PNAS)
SpoQ landmark protein (Mol Micro)
B. subtilis strain to treat helminth diseases (Appl Environ Micro)
Phage tubulin centers DNA (eLife)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM 114: Milestones in Blue

November 6, 2015

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter and Michele Swanson

Guests: Harry Mobley, Mary O’Riordan, and Vince Young

Vincent, Elio, and Michele record this episode 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.

Right click to download TWiM#114 (51 MB .mp3, 70 minutes).

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

Milestones in Microbiology
Mobley laboratory
O’Riordan laboratory
Young laboratory
Frederick Novy
Frederick Novy and the rat virus (Ann Int Med)
Fitness of uropathogenic E. coli (Microbio Spectr)
E. coli vaccine progress (Expert Rev Vaccines)
ER stress activates inflammasome (Immunity)
ER sensor augments bacterial killing (mBio)
Gut microbiome interactions with C. difficile (Ann Rev Micro)
Fecal microbiota transplantation (Infect Immun)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected] .

TWiM 113: Waves of Change

October 22, 2015

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Special guests: Romney Humphries and Duncan MacCannell

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.