BacterioFiles

This episode: In this partnership between fungus and algae, the algae eventually take up residence inside their partner!

Download Episode (8.4 MB, 12.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Erwinia tracheiphila News item/Summary article Takeaways Partnerships and cooperation between otherwise free-living organisms is common in the natural world. Partnering with a photosynthetic organism is a smart approach, allowing the partner to get its energy from the sun and making gathering nutrients easier for the phototroph, and possibly offering protection as well. But in most partnerships, each partner stays separated by its own cell membrane. In this study, a fungus and an alga grow well together, exchanging carbon for nitrogen, similar to how lichens operate. But after a month or so of co-culture, the algae apparently enter the cells of the fungus somehow and live inside it, happily growing and dividing, turning the fungus green. Journal Paper: Du Z-Y, Zienkiewicz K, Vande Pol N, Ostrom NE, Benning C, Bonito GM. 2019. Algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium. eLife 8:e47815.

Other interesting stories:

• Skin microbe transplants could produce healthier skin communities
• Algae took genes from bacteria to deal with harsh conditions

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

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This episode: Figuring out how gut communities change with changes in diet!

Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hepacivirus A News item Takeaways Diet can play a big role in our health. It's not a magic pill that can cure or prevent anything, but a good diet can significantly reduce many health risks for the average person, compared with a bad diet. Diet also has a big effect on the community of microbes in our gut, and this may play a role in the health effects we see from diet, so understanding how food and microbes interact is important. This study looked at the diet quality of participants in several food categories, and correlated this with various kinds of microbes found inside them. Journal Paper: Liu Y, Ajami NJ, El-Serag HB, Hair C, Graham DY, White DL, Chen L, Wang Z, Plew S, Kramer J, Cole R, Hernaez R, Hou J, Husain N, Jarbrink-Sehgal ME, Kanwal F, Ketwaroo G, Natarajan Y, Shah R, Velez M, Mallepally N, Petrosino JF, Jiao L. 2019. Dietary quality and the colonic mucosa–associated gut microbiome in humans. Am J Clin Nutr 110:701–712.

Other interesting stories:

• Sea slug uses defensive toxins that bacteria make for algae it eats
• Good bacteria help bats survive deadly fungus

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

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This episode: Bacteria can aide the production of the useful material graphene, using their ability to add electrons to external surfaces!

Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brevibacterium frigoritolerans News item Takeaways Advanced materials often take advanced techniques to create, but they offer numerous benefits: increased strength and flexibility, smaller size, more options. One such material is graphene, which is basically a sheet of carbon atoms linked together like chainmail. It is only a single atom thick but is amazingly strong, mostly transparent, and good at conducting heat and electricity. The trick is, it's hard to make in large quantities cheaply and easily. Sheets of carbons can be obtained from blocks of graphite, but these sheets are graphene oxide, which lack the desirable properties of graphene. Chemical methods can be used to remove the oxidation, but they are harsh and difficult. Luckily, bacteria are great at microscopic remodeling. In this study, electron-transferring bacteria are able to reduce the graphene oxide to graphene with properties almost as good as are achieved by chemical reduction. Journal Paper: Lehner BAE, Janssen VAEC, Spiesz EM, Benz D, Brouns SJJ, Meyer AS, van der Zant HSJ. 2019. Creation of Conductive Graphene Materials by Bacterial Reduction Using Shewanella oneidensis. ChemistryOpen 8:888–895.

Other interesting stories:

• Frog skin gut bacteria correlate with resistance to deadly virus
• Skin microbiota could be transplanted to treat skin conditions (paper)

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

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This episode: Bacteria found in the guts of serious athletes help mice exercise longer by transforming their metabolic waste!

Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Aggregatibacter (Actinobacillus) actinomycetemcomitans News item Takeaways Our gut microbes affect many aspects of health, and many aspects of how we live affect our microbes. One such aspect is physical exertion, which has been associated with enrichment of various microbes in the guts of athletes. This observation led to the question: are these microbes just benefiting from the high levels of exertion, or are they able to contribute also? This study found that certain such bacteria, when given to mice, enabled the mice to run for a longer period on a treadmill. These microbes break down lactic acid, which is generated in our bodies when we push our physical limits, but the study provided evidence that the longer run times were due not to removal of this waste product, but to the propionate compound produced by its degradation. Journal Paper: Scheiman J, Luber JM, Chavkin TA, MacDonald T, Tung A, Pham L-D, Wibowo MC, Wurth RC, Punthambaker S, Tierney BT, Yang Z, Hattab MW, Avila-Pacheco J, Clish CB, Lessard S, Church GM, Kostic AD. 2019. Meta-omics analysis of elite athletes identifies a performance-enhancing microbe that functions via lactate metabolism. Nat Med 25:1104–1109.

Other interesting stories:

• Aphids hijacked viral gene to determine whether they grow wings
• Phage therapy could help treat green sea turtles

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

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This episode: Plants stimulate their root bacteria to compete better, and these bacteria help the plants resist disease!

Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bacillus circulans Takeaways In some ways, plants' roots are like our gut. They both absorb nutrients, and they both have complex communities of microbes living alongside the host cells. These microbes can assist their hosts in various ways, and get fed in return. In this study, one species of root bacterium is able to compete against others by producing an antimicrobial compound. The plant stimulates this production with chemical signals, and benefits from its symbionts' increased competitiveness because the bacterium helps the plant resist infection. Journal Paper: Ogran A, Yardeni EH, Keren-Paz A, Bucher T, Jain R, Gilhar O, Kolodkin-Gal I. 2019. The Plant Host Induces Antibiotic Production To Select the Most-Beneficial Colonizers. Appl Environ Microbiol 85:e00512-19.

Other interesting stories:

• Plant virus influences aphid viral infection, which possibly increases spread of both
• Producing bioplastics from low-cost carbon sources

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

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This episode: Bacterial enzymes could convert donated blood to be compatible with more people in need!

Download Episode (8.0 MB, 11.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cucumber leaf spot virus News item Takeaways Blood transfusions using donated blood save many lives. Unfortunately, most donations can't be given to just anyone that needs blood; there must be a match in blood type between donor and recipient, or else a life-threatening reaction could occur in the recipient's body. So type A can't donate to type B, or vice versa, but type O is compatible with the other types. In this study, bacterial enzymes found in human gut microbes have the ability to cleave off the unique type A and B sugars on the surface of red blood cells. This could allow the conversion of all donated blood to type O, greatly increasing the blood bank supply, but more testing is needed to develop the process. Journal Paper: Rahfeld P, Sim L, Moon H, Constantinescu I, Morgan-Lang C, Hallam SJ, Kizhakkedathu JN, Withers SG. 2019. An enzymatic pathway in the human gut microbiome that converts A to universal O type blood. Nat Microbiol 4:1475–1485.

Other interesting stories:

• Interesting new protist has novel swimming stroke
• Quantum dot-microbe hybrids power conversion of carbon dioxide to useful stuff

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

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This episode: Five different ways of thinking about our relationship with our microbes!

Download Episode (20.4 MB, 29.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Tuhoko rubulavirus 3 News item Takeaways The microbiome by itself is an amazingly complicated community of many different species, with different lifestyles and metabolisms, all living together in competition and cooperation. On top of that, interactions between the microbiome and our body and our lifestyle multiply the complexity even more. This article explores five different views of the microbiome and how it fits into our body (or how the body fits in with the microbiome). From the organ view to the ecosystem view, each is a different way of looking at the different functions, dynamic patterns, and integration of the microbiome in its host, and each provides guidance for how to approach treatment of disease and maintenance of health. Journal Paper: Morar N, Bohannan BJM. 2019. The Conceptual Ecology of the Human Microbiome. The Quarterly Review of Biology 94:149–175.

Other interesting stories:

• New resource connecting drugs, foods, and microbiota enzymes for potential interactions (paper)
• Building cancer-killing viruses that are controlled with light (paper)

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

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This episode: Not as simple as it sounds—how rod-shaped bacteria maintain their shape! Thanks to Dr. Ethan Garner for his contribution!

Download Episode (6.3 MB, 9.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Erwinia virus M7 News item Takeaways Microbes seem like they should be a lot simpler than large multicellular organisms, but even what seems like it should be a simple system in microbes can be surprisingly complex. In this case, the system bacteria maintaining their particular cell shape. Spherical cells have it easier: just add more cell material at every point. But for rods, they must make the cell longer without making it wider. How do they accomplish this? Two groups of proteins work together to help rod-shaped species grow, but how they work wasn't specifically known. In this study, it was found that one group of proteins adds more cell material as it moves around the circumference, while the other adds structure to the cell that allows it to maintain shape. The more of these structural proteins present, the thinner the cell can stay. Journal Paper: Dion MF, Kapoor M, Sun Y, Wilson S, Ryan J, Vigouroux A, van Teeffelen S, Oldenbourg R, Garner EC. 2019. Bacillus subtilis cell diameter is determined by the opposing actions of two distinct cell wall synthetic systems. Nat Microbiol 4:1294–1305.

Other interesting stories:

• Giant viruses have genes encoding interesting chemical-metabolizing enzymes
• Tiny marine animal with two intriguing bacterial symbionts

Check out BacterioFiles featured in Top 10 Microbiology Podcasts Post questions or comments here or email to [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

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This episode: Bacterial symbionts of amoebas help them survive bacterial infection, and prevent pathogens from spreading to others as much!

Download Episode (7.5 MB, 8.1 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Eubacterium dolichum News item Takeaways Amoebas are free-living, single-celled organisms, but they have some things in common with some cells of our immune system (macrophages). For example, certain bacterial pathogens can infect both in similar ways. So it can be useful to study the interactions of amoebas and bacteria to learn about our own immune defenses. In this study, the amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii has another bacterial symbiont that helps it resist killing by the bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Once the amoebas recovered from the infection, they were more resistant to future challenges. Even better, the symbiont prevented the pathogen from transforming into a more spreadable form like it does when infecting amoebas alone. Journal Paper: König L, Wentrup C, Schulz F, Wascher F, Escola S, Swanson MS, Buchrieser C, Horn M. 2019. Symbiont-Mediated Defense against Legionella pneumophila in Amoebae. mBio 10:e00333-19.

Other interesting stories:

• RNA-cutting CRISPR/Cas system induces bacterial dormancy to prevent phage replication
• Gut bacteria degrade/modify many different kinds of drugs (paper)

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

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This episode: A marine protist can orient itself along magnetic fields thanks to bacterial symbionts on its surface that make magnetic nanoparticles!

Download Episode (7.2 MB, 7.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Chlorocebus pygerythrus polyomavirus 3 Takeaways Various kinds of bacteria can orient their movement along a magnetic field. These are called magnetotactic, and they use this ability to swim toward or away from the surface of their aquatic habitat, to adjust their oxygen exposure according to their preference. No eukaryotic microbes have yet been discovered that can sense and react to magnetic fields like these prokaryotes. In this study, however, a protist was discovered that can do it via its partnership with ectosymbionts, or bacteria attached to its surface, that sense magnetism and orient their host's movement. In return, factors of the host's metabolism may feed its symbionts. Journal Paper: Monteil CL, Vallenet D, Menguy N, Benzerara K, Barbe V, Fouteau S, Cruaud C, Floriani M, Viollier E, Adryanczyk G, Leonhardt N, Faivre D, Pignol D, López-García P, Weld RJ, Lefevre CT. 2019. Ectosymbiotic bacteria at the origin of magnetoreception in a marine protist. Nat Microbiol 4:1088–1095.

Other interesting stories:

• Fungus infects mosquitoes and quickly kills them with engineered toxin
• Nose microbe helps mediate immune response to flu virus, in mouse study (paper)

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

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook