This episode: New giant virus has genes for a surprisingly complete system of protein synthesis!

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Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Phocid alphaherpesvirus 1

Video of tupanvirus intracellular factory

Journal Paper:
Abrahão J, Silva L, Silva LS, Khalil JYB, Rodrigues R, Arantes T, Assis F, Boratto P, Andrade M, Kroon EG, Ribeiro B, Bergier I, Seligmann H, Ghigo E, Colson P, Levasseur A, Kroemer G, Raoult D, La Scola B. 2018. Tailed giant Tupanvirus possesses the most complete translational apparatus of the known virosphere. Nat Commun 9:749.

Other interesting stories:

• Gut microbes can help with the healthy effects of berries (paper)
• Leaf microbes can protect plants from pathogens, at least when plants aren't fertilized
• Exploring the microbes living on an 18th century mummy (paper)

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

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This episode: A version of the microbial enzyme that fixes nitrogen can also convert carbon dioxide to methane!

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Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Human mastadenovirus D

Journal Paper:
Zheng Y, Harris DF, Yu Z, Fu Y, Poudel S, Ledbetter RN, Fixen KR, Yang Z-Y, Boyd ES, Lidstrom ME, Seefeldt LC, Harwood CS. 2018. A pathway for biological methane production using bacterial iron-only nitrogenase. Nat Microbiol 3:281–286.

Other interesting stories:

• Gut bacterial metabolite helps protect mice against gut pathogen

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This episode: Bacteria that contain tiny magnets can generate an electric current!

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Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Mamastrovirus 2

Journal Paper:
Smit B.A., Van Zyl E., Joubert J.J., Meyer W., Prévéral S., Lefèvre C.T., Venter S.N. 2018. Magnetotactic bacteria used to generate electricity based on Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction. Lett Appl Microbiol 66:362–367.

Other interesting stories:

• Deep-sea fangly fishes have tight relationship with their light-producing bacteria

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This episode: Giant viruses produce DNA-packing proteins that seem to have branched off from eukaryotes far back in evolutionary history!

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Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Caulobacter maris

News item

Journal Paper:
Erives AJ. 2017. Phylogenetic analysis of the core histone doublet and DNA topo II genes of Marseilleviridae: evidence of proto-eukaryotic provenance. Epigenetics & Chromatin 10:55.

Other interesting stories:

• Swimming bacteria can affect liquid viscosity, to the point of superfluidity
• Tiny soil roundworms can sense and avoid pathogens by their gases
• Beetle bacterium makes defensive compound with genes taken from an ocean microbe

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This episode: Adding adapters to anti-cancer virus helps it avoid destruction by the body so it can target the tumors!

Thanks to Dr. Andreas Plückthun for his contribution!

Download Episode (7.8 MB, 8.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Tomato leaf curl Vietnam virus

News item

Journal Paper:
Schmid M, Ernst P, Honegger A, Suomalainen M, Zimmermann M, Braun L, Stauffer S, Thom C, Dreier B, Eibauer M, Kipar A, Vogel V, Greber UF, Medalia O, Plückthun A. 2018. Adenoviral vector with shield and adapter increases tumor specificity and escapes liver and immune control. Nat Commun 9:450.

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This episode: Very small ocean algae consume bacterial prey of a similar size to themselves by engulfing them only partially!

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Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Bradyrhizobium japonicum

Journal Paper:
Kamennaya NA, Kennaway G, Fuchs BM, Zubkov MV. 2018. “Pomacytosis”—Semi-extracellular phagocytosis of cyanobacteria by the smallest marine algae. PLOS Biol 16:e2003502.

Other interesting stories:

• Using nanomagnets to control quorum sensing by pulling bacteria together (paper)

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This episode: Protein bags of gas in bacteria could help make ultrasound imaging more versatile!

Download Episode (7.6 MB, 8.25 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Cronobacter virus Esp2949-1

News item

Journal Paper:
Bourdeau RW, Lee-Gosselin A, Lakshmanan A, Farhadi A, Kumar SR, Nety SP, Shapiro MG. 2018. Acoustic reporter genes for noninvasive imaging of microorganisms in mammalian hosts. Nature 553:86–90.

Other interesting stories:

• Laxatives shown very disruptive to gut microbes in mice
• Evidence not good that probiotics can reduce anxiety in people

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

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This episode: Phages may be passing through the barriers in our body all the time!

Thanks to Dr. Jeremy Barr for his contribution!

Download Episode (13.2 MB, 14.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Rhodobacter virus RcCronus

Journal Paper:
Nguyen S, Baker K, Padman BS, Patwa R, Dunstan RA, Weston TA, Schlosser K, Bailey B, Lithgow T, Lazarou M, Luque A, Rohwer F, Blumberg RS, Barr JJ. 2017. Bacteriophage Transcytosis Provides a Mechanism To Cross Epithelial Cell Layers. mBio 8:e01874-17.

Other interesting stories:

• Yeast species uses same codon for two different amino acids (paper)

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This episode: Very radiation-resistant bacteria can protect other, less-resistant microbes from some of the effects of chronic radiation!

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Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus CA4A

News item

Journal Paper:
Shuryak I, Matrosova VY, Gaidamakova EK, Tkavc R, Grichenko O, Klimenkova P, Volpe RP, Daly MJ. 2017. Microbial cells can cooperate to resist high-level chronic ionizing radiation. PLOS ONE 12:e0189261.

Other interesting stories:

• Panda gut microbes help them detoxify cyanide in their diet (paper)
• Modified probiotics can detect and inhibit cholera in baby mice

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

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This episode: Some bacteria can defend themselves from bacterial predators by producing cyanide!

Thanks to Dr. Robert Mitchell for his contribution!

Download Episode (7.7 MB, 8.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Dyoepsilonpapillomavirus 1

News item

Journal Paper:
Mun W, Kwon H, Im H, Choi SY, Monnappa AK, Mitchell RJ. 2017. Cyanide Production by Chromobacterium piscinae Shields It from Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus HD100 Predation. mBio 8:e01370-17.

Other interesting stories:

• Using bacterial DNA to estimate movement of river water
• Making bacteria produce biologic drugs that last longer in the body
• Fungal pigment could be a useful semiconductor
• Parasitic microbe uses chemical defense against defenses of fungus-growing ants

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