The TWiM team explains how breathing can transmit SARS-CoV-2, and how lack of breathing leads to loss of mitochondria in a multicellular parasitic animal.

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Links for this episode:

• Reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (Science)
• Why social distancing is important (NY Times)
• Parasite without mitochondria (PNAS)
• Letters read on TWiM 218

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

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The TWiM team explains an experimental vaccine to prevent E. coli urinary tract infections, and the remarkable three-way symbiosis of narnaviruses, bacteria, and fungi.

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• Developing a vaccine for UTI (mBio)
• Narnaviruses and bacteria-fungal symbioses (ISME J)
• 20% off The Invisible ABCs for TWiM listeners! Use promo code: ABC20 at checkout.
• TWiM Listener survey

The TWiM team discuses saliva as more sensitive for SARS-CoV-2 detection in COVID-19 patients than nasopharyngeal swab and how Mycobacterium tuberculosis sulfolipid-1 activates nociceptive neurons and induces cough.

Links for this episode:

• Preventing the next pandemic (NY Times)
• COVID-19 treatment guidelines (NIH)
• Saliva sensitive for SARS-CoV-2 detection (medRxiv)
• A mycobacterial molecule provokes cough (Cell)
• Letters read on TWiM 216
• 20% off The Invisible ABCs for TWiM listeners! Use promo code: ABC20 at checkout.

Become a patron of TWiM.

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

A ferret model for infection by SARS-CoV-2, and how Neolithization lead to emergence of a human bacterial pathogen.

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

Links for this episode:

• Infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in ferrets (Cell Host Micr)
• Neolithization led to emergence of Salmonella enterica (Nat Ecol Evol)
• Arnold Demain (Wikipedia)

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

Become a patron of TWiM.

Vincent, Elio and Michael reveal the ASM COVID-19 summit, and how Salmonella injects a protein into the cell to drive suppression of the immune response.

• ASM COVID-19 Summit
• Value of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing (mBio)
• How SARS-CoV-2 is changing (nextstrain)
• Contribute to COVID-19 data
• Salmonella effector suppresses inflammation (Cell Host Micr)

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Vincent, Elio and Michael discuss the stability of human coronaviruses on surfaces and in aerosols, and peptidoglycan production by a mosaic consisting of a bacterium within a bacterium within an insect.

Links for this episode:

• Human coronavirus 229E infectivity on common surfaces (mBio)
• Aerosol and surface stability of SARS-CoV-2 (medRxiv)
• Peptidoglycan synthesis by a insect-bacteria mosaic (Cell)
• Letters read on TWiM 213

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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 reviews the coronavirus outbreak that began in Wuhan, China, and the finding that an IRF deficiency underlies Whipple's disease.

• 2019-nCoV case tracking (JHU)
• Clinical features of infection with 2019-nCoV (Lancet)
• Early transmission dynamics of 2019-nCoV (NEJM)
• Isolation of 2019-nCoV (NEJM)
• TLR4 defect in Whipple's disease (eLife)

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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 Fellowship of the TWiM reveal that colorectal cancer-associated microbiota are associated with higher numbers of methylated genes in colonic mucosa, and identification of metabolites needed by the fire blight disease bacterium for virulence in apples.

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Links for this episode:

• Colorectal cancer and the gut microbiome (PNAS)
• Fire blight (YouTube)
• Fire blight spreads north (NY Times)
• E. amylovora auxotrophs (Appl Environ Micro)

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 Microbial Comrades present the oldest osteosynthesis in history, and how a small molecule produced by stressed bacteria is a warning signal that repels healthy populations to promote their survival.

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

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email.

Become a patron of TWiM.

• P. aeruginosa PQS repels bacteria(J Bact)
• PQS signaling(J Bact)
• Letters read on TWiM 210
• TWiM Listener survey

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to [email protected]

The TWiM team reveals how ribosome modification resuscitates bacterial persister cells, and explain how a phage tail fiber protein exploits rotation of flagella to move towards the cell membrane.

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Links for this episode:

• Ribosome modification resuscitates persister cells (Environ Micro)
• Flagellotrophic phage targets host with tail fiber (Mol Micro)
• Hydrodynamics of phage migration along flagella (Phys Rev Fluids)

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]