TWiM explores the use of Archaea to produce plastics from molasses wastewater, and a bacterial defense against bacteriophage infection that involves depletion of deoxynucleotides.

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• Improving plastics production by Archaea (Appl Environ Micro)
• Biodegradability of PHA (Green Chem)
• What does tesla mean for an MRI and its magnet? (GE)
• Bacteria deplete nucleotides to block phages (Nat Micro)
• Antiphage hotspots in bacteria (TWiM 265)
• Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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

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

TWiM reviews discovery of a bacterium that is visible to the naked eye, and reversible resistance to bacteriophage by shedding of the bacterial cell wall.

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• A bacterium that is not a microbe (Science)
• Overwhelming microbial greatness (TWiM 261)
• Medical illustrator Kellie Holoski
• Bacteriophage resistance by shedding cell wall (Open Biol)
• Who came first, monderms or diderms? (Nat Ecol Evol)
• Letters read on TWiM 269
• Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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

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

TWiM discusses citizen science surveillance of drug-resistant Aspergillus in garden soil, and the mechanism of action of a copper dependent antibiotic.

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• Fanny Hesse (Microbial Menagerie)
• Citizen science surveillance of Aspergillus (App Envir Micro)
• Aspergillum (Wikipedia)
• DMDC, copper dependent antibiotic (Infect Immun)
• National Summer Undergraduate Research Project
• Letters read on TWiM 268
• Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

From ASM Microbe 2022 in Washington, DC, Heran joins TWiM to discuss her career and her work on the agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson Guest: Heran Darwin

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• Honey badger of pathogens (EMBO Rep)
• Pup-proteasome system (PNAS)
• Cytokinin signaling in M. tuberculosis (mBio)
• Bandwagoning (EMBO Rep)
• Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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

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

TWiM explains how spindle-shaped Archaeal viruses evolved from rod-shaped ancestors to package a larger genome, and transcriptional recording by CRISPR acquisition from RNA.

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• From rods to spindles (Cell)
• Spindle-shaped virus movie (Cell)
• Bacteria that record (Science)
• Transcriptional recording with CRISPR (Nature)
• Letters read on TWiM 266
• TWiM Listener survey

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM explains the discovery of hotspots of genetic variation containing reservoirs of anti-phage systems in E. coli phages and their parasitic satellites, and pathogen desiccation tolerance promoted by hydrophilins.

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• Phage and satellite antiviral systems (Cell Host Micro)
• Hydropilins promote desiccation tolerance (Cell Host Micro)
• Letters read on TWiM 265
• TWiM Listener survey

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

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

TWiM reveals that the atypical antipsychotic quetiapine promotes multiple antibiotic resistance in E. coli, and treatment with Bifidobacterium lactis probiotic benefits patients with coronary artery disease.

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Links for this episode:

• Antipsychotic promotes antimicrobial resistance (J Bact)
• Probiotic benefits patients with coronary artery disease (mSystems)
• B. lactis and Alzheimer’s in mice (Eur J Nutr)

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM explains the use of lavender oil to disrupt Listeria biofilms, and how treatment of catheters with liquid silicone reduces associated urinary tract infections.

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• Lavender oil prevents biofilms (Lett Appl Micro)
• Silicone-infused catheters reduce infection (eLife)
• Viable but not culturable (TWiM 179)
• Letters read on TWiM 263
• TWiM Listener survey

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

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

TWiM welcomes new host Petra, and explains how a small protein helps ensure that E. coli utilizes a preferred carbon source, and a screening strategy to identify inhibitors of the type IV secretion system that is essential for virulence of a variety of bacterial pathogens.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin

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

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• A small protein regulates carbon utilization (PNAS)
• Inhibitors of type IV secretion systems (mBio)
• Letters read on TWiM 262

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

Mark returns to TWiM to join in a discussion of soil microbiota as game-changers in restoration of degraded lands, and discovery of a centimeter-long bacterium, the biggest yet discovered.

Guest: Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode:

• Game-changing soil microbiota (Science)
• A World Without Soil by Jo Handlesman
• A World Without Soil video (YouTube)
• Centimeter-long bacteria (bioRxiv)
• How large can a bacteria get? (YouTube)
• Giant bacteria (YouTube)
• Three faces of Thiomargarita (Small Things Considered)
• The microbe that could be seen (Small Things Considered)
• Energetics of the eukaryotic edge (Small Things Considered)
• A lakeside tale (Small Things Considered)
• Letters read on TWiM 261

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

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]