Matters Microbial #125: Antibiotics, Streptomyces and Evolution March 15, 2026

Today Professor Paul Hoskisson, Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Engineering Biology at the University of Strathclyde joins the Quality Quorum to discuss his research group's adventures studying how the bacterium Streptomyces develops, produces antibiotics, and evolves!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Paul Hoskisson

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Links for this episode

• Here is a biographical sketch of the impact of Carl Woese on microbiology.
• Here is a fine (if dated) video describing Woese's impact and work. It's truly wonderful to hear Woese himself discuss his work and challenges.
• Yours truly wrote an essay on Carl Woese and undergraduate education.
• An article on geosmin and actinobacteria. It may smell like soil, but it has other functions, like attracting springtails!
• An overview of the genus Streptomyces.
• A video showing the beauty of the life cycle of Streptomyces and various interactions.
• Linear genomes in bacteria.
• An overview of antibiotics.
• Selman Waksman and early antibiotics. And a Nobel Prize!
• The remarkable Julian Davies and antibiotic function.
• Davies' concept of small molecules with functions: the parvome.
• A wonderful collection of articles in honor of Julian Davies.
• The antibiotic resistance crisis that we all face.
• Rapamycin and the organism that synthesizes that compound, which is an immunosuppressant helpful in organ transplantation.
• The concept of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters (BGC).
• Rich Lenski and the LTEE program to study evolution in bacteria.
• A wonderful video of Dr. Lenski discussing that program.
• The use of "evolution in the lab" with bacteria to develop new functions and activities.
• Possibility of "evolution proof" antibiotics.
• Work discussed during this podcast from Dr. Hoskisson's laboratory group exploring experimental evolution in Streptomyces.
• Work discussed during this podcast from Dr. Hoskisson's laboratory group investigating the evolution of natural product synthesis.
• Work discussed during this podcast from Dr. Hoskisson's laboratory group investigating the known and unknown genes involved with secondary metabolite production.
• Dr. Hoskisson's laboratory group website.
• Dr. Hoskisson's faculty website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

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