This episode: Bacteria have repeatedly captured and used the tails of phages to fight each other!

Download Episode (9 MB, 9.8 minutes)

Show notes:
Journal Paper:
Hockett KL, Renner T, Baltrus DA. 2015. Independent Co-Option of a Tailed Bacteriophage into a Killing Complex in Pseudomonas. mBio 6:e00452-15.

Other interesting stories:

• Bacterial immune system can make plants resistant to viruses
• Viruses are (usually) tiny but interesting
• Gut microbes may have surprising effects on our behavior
• Engineering viruses to use quantum effects for better solar cells
• Probiotic bacteria could help with Type 2 diabetes (paper)

 

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening!

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter or Facebook

Thumbnail image: Cultures of Pseudomonas syringae van Hall taken from bean halo blight colonies. By: Howard F. Schwartz, The Bugwood Network at the University of Georgia and the USDA Forest Service.