This episode: How social bacteria societies function: by sharing enzyme packages with each other that can contain toxins that are deadly for rivals but not for friends!

Thanks to Chris Vasallo for his contribution!

Download Episode (12.4 MB, 13.6 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Propionibacterium virus PAD20

News item

Journal Paper:
Vassallo CN, Cao P, Conklin A, Finkelstein H, Hayes CS, Wall D. 2017. Infectious polymorphic toxins delivered by outer membrane exchange discriminate kin in myxobacteria. eLife 6:e29397.

Other interesting stories:

• Attaching proteins to little bioplastic beads to make useful nanoparticles (paper)
• Fungi are very important for nutrient cycling in the world
• Friendly soil microbes inject plant pathogens with toxin
• Microbes are carried around the world through the atmosphere
• Arctic algae can grow even in super cold and dark conditions

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

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This episode: A plasmid discovered in Antarctic archaea can create virus-like particles, membrane vesicles, and transfer itself to new hosts!

Thanks to Rick Cavicchioli for his contribution.

Download Episode (17.7 MB, 19.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Hypomicrogaster canadensis bracovirus

News item

Journal Paper:
Erdmann S, Tschitschko B, Zhong L, Raftery MJ, Cavicchioli R. 2017. A plasmid from an Antarctic haloarchaeon uses specialized membrane vesicles to disseminate and infect plasmid-free cells. Nat Microbiol 2:1446.

Other interesting stories:

• Probiotic bacteria good at metabolizing potentially helpful plant compounds (paper)
• Bacteria can harvest precious metals from waste to make catalytic particles (paper)
• Bacteria help mice avoid chemotherapy-induced autoimmunity (paper)
• Exercise could be healthy partly because it modifies gut microbe community
• Gut microbe community may help some bats live long (paper)

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

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This episode: New type of secretion system discovered that bacteria use to stab amoeba predators to escape their digestion!

Download Episode (7.8 MB, 8.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Avastrovirus 1

News item

Journal Paper:
Böck D, Medeiros JM, Tsao H-F, Penz T, Weiss GL, Aistleitner K, Horn M, Pilhofer M. 2017. In situ architecture, function, and evolution of a contractile injection system. Science 357:713–717.

Other interesting stories:

• Gut microbe metabolites keep yeasts from taking over (paper)
• Ancient fungi extracted minerals that helped ancient plants create oxygen
• How microbes survive on and affect tombstones (paper)
• Stomach bacterium produces interesting anti-inflammatory compound (paper)
• Finding archaea in the human lung, gut, skin, and nose (paper)

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

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This episode: Phages bound to magnetic nanoparticles can be guided and pulled toward their target, penetrating biofilms to kill harmful microbes!

Download Episode (9.6 MB, 10.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Veillonella alcalescens

News item

Journal Paper:
Li L-L, Yu P, Wang X, Yu S-S, Mathieu J, Yu H-Q, Alvarez PJJ. 2017. Enhanced biofilm penetration for microbial control by polyvalent phages conjugated with magnetic colloidal nanoparticle clusters (CNCs). Environ Sci Nano 4:1817–1826.

Other interesting stories:

• Social group membership affects lemur gut microbes
• Viruses can transfer genes between kingdoms
• Trace gases in atmosphere enough to support microbes in Antarctica
• Magnetic bacteria can swim even against the current
• Engineered bacteria produce internal scaffolds for better biotech productions

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

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This episode: Gut microbes in mice break down plant foods and produce molecules that stimulate the immune system to resist influenza!

Thanks to Drs. Ashley Steed and Thaddeus Stappenbeck for their contributions!

Download Episode (9 MB, 9.8 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Bougainvillea chlorotic vein banding virus

News item

Journal Paper:
Steed AL, Christophi GP, Kaiko GE, Sun L, Goodwin VM, Jain U, Esaulova E, Artyomov MN, Morales DJ, Holtzman MJ, Boon ACM, Lenschow DJ, Stappenbeck TS. 2017. The microbial metabolite desaminotyrosine protects from influenza through type I interferon. Science 357:498–502.

Other interesting stories:

• Nanobots with propellers modeled after bacterial flagella
• Embedding useful bacteria into "ink" used to print 3D structures
• Controlling behavior of individual bacteria using a computer
• Exercise alone can affect microbiota
• Microbes in ISS are similar to microbes in Earth homes

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

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This episode: Learning about endosymbionts by comparing bacteria living inside eukaryotes to their free-living cousins!

Thanks to Dr. Vittorio Boscaro for his contribution!

Download Episode (9.7 MB, 10.6 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Ancalochloris perfilievii

Journal Paper:
Boscaro V, Kolisko M, Felletti M, Vannini C, Lynn DH, Keeling PJ. 2017. Parallel genome reduction in symbionts descended from closely related free-living bacteria. Nat Ecol Evol 1:1160.

Other interesting stories:

• Wolbachia naturally found in mosquitoes inhibits malaria transmission (paper)
• Group of 5 microbes help regulate Hydra's body contractions
• In mice, fungi can function somewhat in place of gut bacteria (paper)
• Bacteriophages get carried all over the body
• Bacteria engineered to make boron-carbon bonds

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

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This episode: Figuring out how mushrooms launch their spores out using a trick of water surface tension!

Download Episode (6.7 MB, 7.3 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Carrot torradovirus 1

News item

Video of artificial "spore" launching

Journal Paper:
Liu F, Chavez RL, Patek SN, Pringle A, Feng JJ, Chen C-H. 2017. Asymmetric drop coalescence launches fungal ballistospores with directionality. J R Soc Interface 14:20170083.

Other interesting stories:

• Bacteriophage also inhibits fungal pathogen (paper)
• Virus infects both plant and fungus (paper)
• Gut interactions between bacteria and salt - also this
• Bacteria can transform toxic metals into less harmful forms (paper)
• Microbes generating electricity from swine wastewater

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

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This episode: Hot spring archaea prefer to use elements that give them less energy even when more energetic options are available!

Download Episode (8.1 MB, 8.8 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Vitreoscilla beggiatoides

News item

Journal Paper:
Amenabar MJ, Shock EL, Roden EE, Peters JW, Boyd ES. 2017. Microbial substrate preference dictated by energy demand rather than supply. Nat Geosci 10:577–581.

Other interesting stories:

• Developing good methods for using skin microbiome for forensics (paper)
• Microbe discovered that consumes groundwater contaminant dioxane
• Mucus-eating gut microbes can produce beneficial nutrients and vitamins (paper)
• Making new beer and wine flavors with different yeast
• Providing leaf microbiota to help endangered plants survive in wild

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

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

This episode: I talk with Dr. Walter Sandoval-Espinola, a researcher from Paraguay, now a postdoc at Harvard, about his discovery that biofuel-producing bacteria Clostridium beijerinckii can also transform CO2 and carbon monoxide into biofuels!

Download Episode (37 MB, 40.4 minutes)

Show notes:
News item en español

Find Walter on Twitter or LinkedIn

Journal Paper:
Sandoval-Espinola WJ, Chinn MS, Thon MR, Bruno-Bárcena JM. 2017. Evidence of mixotrophic carbon-capture by n-butanol-producer Clostridium beijerinckii. Sci Rep 7:12759.

Other interesting stories:

• Even microbes can help mix up lake water
• Using drones to sample whale microbiome
• Prebiotics could affect gut even without microbe involvement (paper)
• Bacteria do better in changing environments when they cooperate
• Newly discovered bacterial defense against phages (paper)

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

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Happy New Year! This episode: Fungal endophytes transferred from healthy adult plant leaf litter help baby cacao plants resist disease!

Thanks to Dr. Natalie Christian for her contribution!

Download Episode (10.3 MB, 11.25 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Lactobacillus virus Lb338-1

News item
Hear a CBC interview with Dr. Christian about this research

Journal Paper:
Christian N, Herre EA, Mejia LC, Clay K. 2017. Exposure to the leaf litter microbiome of healthy adults protects seedlings from pathogen damage. Proc R Soc B 284:20170641.

Other interesting stories:

• Using bacteria to clean up radioactive strontium from water (paper)
• Ocean bacteria make themselves slippery instead of sticky to avoid predators (paper)
• Which plants grow in tropics depends on how fungi interact with their seeds
• Using an antibiotic-sensing protein to control antibiotic production in bacteria
• Symbiotic fungi can help plants tolerate stresses better

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

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