This episode: Certain transposons, genetic elements that move around the genome on their own, have co-opted the bacterial immune system, CRISPR, to use for jumping to new hosts!

Thanks to Dr. Joseph Peters for his contribution!

Download Episode (10.7 MB, 11.75 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces yokosukanensis

Journal Paper:
Peters JE, Makarova KS, Shmakov S, Koonin EV. 2017. Recruitment of CRISPR-Cas systems by Tn7-like transposons. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114:E7358–E7366.

Other interesting stories:

• Microbe found producing antibiotic previously only known to be man-made (paper)
• Modifying genetics to change bacterial colony colors
• Making microbe communities that help plants in specific ways
• Gut microbes can protect mice against death from sepsis
• Fungus affects cicada behavior to infect more hosts

 

Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening!

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