The TWiM team reviews the movie Jezebel, played against the background of the yellow fever epidemic of 1853 in New Orleans, and prokaryotic viperins, ancestors of the eukaryotic enzymes that synthesize antiviral molecules.

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• Jezebel (Wikipedia)
• Prokaryotic viperins (Nature)
• A cell protein that synthesizes antivirals (virology blog)
• Dr. Aude Bernheim’s training and gender equity contributions
• TWiM Listener survey

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TWiM explores the use of a bacterial protein to make highly conductive microbial nanowires, and how modulin proteins seed the formation of amyloid, a key component of S. aureus biofilms.

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• Amyloid formation for S. aureus biofilms (eLife)
• Highly conductive microbial nanowires (Nat Chem Biol)
• Uncovering Nature’s electronics (Nature)
• Activating Nature’s electrical grid (Bioeng)
• Bacteria that exhale electricity (SyFyWire)
• Microbial transistors (TWiM 14)
• TWiM Listener survey

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Mark Martin returns to TWiM for a discussion of a predatory bacterium appropriately named Vampirococcus lugosii, and Elio reveals how bacteria can be used on the International Space Station to efficiently extract rare earth elements in microgravity.

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Links for this episode:

• Space Station biomining (Nat Comm)
• Reductive evolution in a predatory bacterium (bioRxiv)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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In this episode of TWiM, control of Campylobacter in raw chicken by zinc oxide nanoparticles in packaging material, and Salmonella enterica genomes from a16th century epidemic in Mexico.

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Links for this episode:

• Zinc oxide nanoparticles in raw meat packing (Appl Env Micro)
• Campylobacter, an emerging foodborne pathogen (Emerg Inf Dis)
• Ancient bacterial DNA (Microb Genom)
• Salmonella enterica from 16th century outbreak (Nature)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

In this episode of TWiM, the hidden biochemical diversity in soil-dwelling Actinobacteria that could lead to a second Golden Era of antibiotic discovery, and structures of glideosome components reveals the mechanism of gliding in apicomplexan parasites.

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Links for this episode:

• Cryptic or silent? (mBio)
• The Streptomyces chromosome (Ann Rev Gen)
• Engineering Nature’s Medicines (pdf)
• Apicomplexan glideosome (Comm Biol)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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Ninecia and Chelsey, two of the founders of Black in Microbiology, join TWiM to discuss the goals of the organization, then we reveal survival of Deinococcus bacteria for 3 years in space, an experiment that addresses the panspermia hypothesis for interplanetary transfer of life.

Guests:  Ninecia Scott and Chelsey Spriggs

You can watch this episode at https://youtu.be/1o1hh0I4rio

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• Black in Microbiology
• Deinococcus DNA damage in space (Front Micro)
• Monthly myco-talks (Uni Exeter)

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TWiM presents an episode for mycophiles: how bacteria disarm mushroom pathogens, and the role of the CARD9 protein in protective immunity against pulmonary cryptococcosis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michael Schmidt and Michele Swanson

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Links for this episode:

• Black in Microbiology
• How bacteria disarm mushroom pathogens (PNAS)
• A bacterial battleground (Science)
• CARD9 needed for fungal defense (mBio)
• OneHealth: Fungal pathogens (AAM)
• Image credit

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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TWiM presents two unusual microorganisms, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, heard by Elio in an episode of Doc Martin, and Roseomonas mucosa, which is being used to treat atopic dermatitis.

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Links for this episode:

• Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae
• Treating atopic dermatitis with R. mucosa (Sci Trans Med)
• Overview of sphingolipid metabolism (Adv Exp Med Biol)
• Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections (MTM 118)
• Image credit

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

The TWiM team explores how delivery of an enzyme into competitor cells leads to synthesis of (p)ppApp, depletion of ATP, deregulation of metabolic pathways, and cell death, and a refinement of our typical view of bacterial lag phase as a period of nonreplication.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, and Michael Schmidt

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Links for this episode:

• Killing competitors by synthesis of (p)ppApp (Nature)
• Lag phase is a dynamic period (J Bact)
• Image credit

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

The TWiM team reveals the genetic mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls from sequencing of DNA, and 100 million year old living bacteria recovered from marine sediments.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michele Swanson and Michael Schmidt

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Links for this episode:

• Elio’s Memoirs
• Genetic mysteries of Dead Sea Scrolls (Cell)
• 100 million year old bacteria under the sea (Nat Comm)
• Image credit

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]