TWiM presents evidence that over half of human pathogenic diseases are impacted by climate change, and considers how a novel prokaryote discovered next to an underground stream illuminates the pathway to multicellularity.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Mark Martin.

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• Climate change and pathogenic diseases (Nat Climate Change)
• Impacts of climate change on human diseases (MoraLAB)
• Cave bacteria illuminate pathway to multicellularity (eLife)
• Commentary on novel cave bacteria (eLife)
• Karst landscapes (National Park Service)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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TWiM reveals high rates of co-transformation of plasmids in E. coli overturns the clonality myth, and bacterial membrane vesicles as a novel strategy for extrusion of the antimicrobial bismuth in H. pylori.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin

• The myth of clonality (Sci Rep)
• Bacterial membrane vesicles extrude bismuth (mBio)
• Gastric acid levels must decrease (World J Gastroenterol)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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Mark Martin returns to TWiM to join the discussion of how to design a complex gut microbiome, and protection of protists from virus infection by intracellular bacterial symbionts.

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

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• Design of a complex gut microbiome (Cell)
• Defensive symbiosis against giant viruses (PNAS)
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Music by Ronald Jenkees.

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TWiM reveals how to inactivate norovirus on formica surfaces, and how to achieve antibiotic resistance by suppression of a frameshift mutation in an essential gene.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Android, RSS, or by email.

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• Effect of wiping on norovirus inactivation (Appl Env Micro)
• Chlorine dilution calculator (Ontario Pub Health)
• Antibiotic resistance by frameshift suppression (PNAS)
• Resistance to rifampicin (Nature)
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Music by Ronald Jenkees.

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TWiM explores the activation of natural product synthesis using CRISPR interference in Streptomyces, and how light/dark and temperature cycling modulate Electron Flow in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin

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• Activating natural product synthesis (Nucleic Acids Res)
• Light and temperature modulate biofilm electron flow (mBio)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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TWiM presents a novel mucosal COVID-19 vaccine based on a bacteriophage capsid, and potentiation of C. difficile infection severity by the gut bacterial community.

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Links for this episode:

• Bacteriophage based COVID-19 vaccine (mBio)
• Gut microbiome potentiates C. difficile disease (mBio)
• Letters read on TWiM 271

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

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

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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
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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]

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)
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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 (email or recorded audio) to [email protected]