TWiM explains how phages avoid tRNA-targeting host defenses, and discovery of a new antibiotic from an uncultured bacterium that binds to an immutable target.
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.
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.
TWiM explains how bacterial symbionts regulate tick blood feeding activity, and the reasons why antibiotics exist.
Petra Levin joins TWiM to tell three stories from her laboratory: how starvation induces shrinkage of the bacterial cytoplasm; plasticity of E. coli cell wall and how it influences antibiotic resistance across different environments; and induction of antibiotic resistance by Triclosan.
On this episode of TWiM, using colicins to ferry DNA into cells through an iron transporter, and construction of highly efficient microbial fuel cells that produce more electrical current than previously observed.
How a bacterium helps dengue virus replicate in the mosquito gut, and minicells as a damage disposal mechanism in E. coli.
The TWiMsters explain why untreatable typhoid fever might be on the way, and the evolution of fungal virulence in tropical frogs.
Vincent and Michael discuss the highly diverse microbiome of uncontacted Amerindians, and how the composition of human urine plays a role in the battle for iron. Right click to download TWiM#107 (44 MB .mp3, 91 minutes). Subscribe…
About the Hosts of TWiM
Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D. (@profvrr) is Higgins Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Columbia University Medical Center. He has been studying viruses for over 40 years. He teaches virology to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as medical, dental, and nursing students. His lectures are available online at iTunes University, YouTube, and Coursera.
Michael Schmidt, Ph.D. (TWiM) is the Professor and Vice Chairman of Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Office of Special Programs at the Medical College of South Carolina. Dr. Schmidt is leading a team of infectious disease specialists from three health sciences centers and engineers from industry.