This Week in Microbiology

TWiM 105: Real bugs with legs

June 5, 2015

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

The TWiM team reviews the microbiological safety of herbs in the United Kingdom, and how a peptide from the milkweed bug binds the ribosome and inhibits bacterial protein synthesis.

Right click to download TWiM#105 (42 MB .mp3, 58 minutes).

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

Microbes in whole-leaf herbs (J Appl Micro)
Antimicrobial peptide blocks ribosome (Nat Struct Mol Biol)
Bacterial protein synthesis (Micro Mol Biol Rev)
Antimicrobial peptides (Nature)
The battle for tryptophan (Front Cell Infect Micro)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiM 105

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiM 104: Feed me polyamines, biofilm

May 21, 2015

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

The TWiM team discusses how measles vaccination protects against other infectious diseases, and links between bacterial biofilms and colon cancer.

Right click to download TWiM#104 (46 MB .mp3, 64 minutes).

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

Measles vaccination prevents all-cause infectious disease (Science)
Master of contagion (The Loom)
Video: Measles incidence to immunomodulation (Science)
FAQ: Adult vaccines
Metabolism links biofilms and colon cancer (Cell Metab)
Scripps Center for Metabolomics
Scripps metabolite database
Image credit
Letters read on TWiM 104

Sponsors for this episode: SciMedSolutions, ICAAC-ICC

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiM 103: The battle for iron

May 8, 2015

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

The TWiM team is amazed by the ocelloid, and an evolutionary battle for iron between mammalian transferrin and bacterial transferrin-binding protein.

Right click to download TWiM#103 (48 MB .mp3, 65 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, or by email. You can also listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

TWiM 102: Happiness is the spore-formers in your gut

April 24, 2015

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

The TWiM team discusses evidence that serotonin synthesis is regulated by spore-forming members of the gut microbiota.

Right click to download TWiM#102 (42 MB .mp3, 58 minutes).

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

When antibiotic resistance in vitro falls short (STC)
Gut microbiota control serotonin in mice (Cell)
Serotonin biosynthesis (Wikipedia)
Microbial endocrinology (STC)
Image credit
Sponsors for this episode: SciMedSolutions, Jmbe.asm.org, ICAAC-ICC
Letters read on TWiM 102

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM 101: The MRSA in your home

April 1, 2015

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

The TWiMers discuss how aroma helps disperse yeast cells on insect vectors, and evidence that MRSA is transmitted within households.

Right click to download TWiM#101 (54 MB .mp3, 74 minutes).

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

Aroma promotes yeast dispersal on flies (Cell Rep)
MRSA is transmitted within households (mBio)
FAQ: The threat of MRSA (AAM)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiM 101

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM 100: Omnis cellula e cellula

March 18, 2015

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Elio Schaechter and Jo Handelsman.

The TWiM team celebrates 100 episodes with a Talmudic question, and discussion of how a single mutation alters bacterial host tropism.

Right click to download TWiM#100 (37 MB .mp3, 51 minutes).

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

A single mutation alters bacterial tropism (Nat Gen)
Talmudic question #104 (Small Things Considered)
Principles of Microbial Diversity (ASM Press)
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Letters read on TWiM 100

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

TWiM 99: Careers in Biodefense

March 4, 2015

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Maria Julia Marinissen, Edward H. You, and David R. Howell

Vincent meets up with Maria, Edward, and David at the ASM Biodefense and Emerging Infections Research meeting to talk about alternative careers for scientists.

Right click to download TWiM#99 (45 MB .mp3, 62 minutes).

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:

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM 98: Bacteria and eukaryotes get horizontal

February 18, 2015

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

The TWiM crew ponders the question of how a bacterium finds its middle when dividing, then divulge the transfer of interbacterial antagonism genes to eukaryotes, where they may function in innate defense.