This Week in Microbiology

• 339: Missing the Company of Elio

  TWiM pays tribute to Elio Schaechter, former TWiM host, blogger, and microbiologist extraordinaire, then reviews the finding that Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria - a form of competition.

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

  Guest Mark O. Martin.

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

  Links for this episode

  • Elio Schaechter (Wikipedia)
  • Elio Schaechter Funeral Service (video)
  • Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria (PLoS Biol)
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• 338: Rewriting the Code of Life

  TWiM discusses outbreak of Legionnaires disease in Harlem NY, an automated whole genome sequencing platform for bacterial strain typing in clinical microbiology laboratories, building E. coli with a 57-codon genetic code.

  Links for this episode

  • Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in NY (NY Health)
  • Automated whole genome sequencing for clinical labs (J Clin Micro)
  • Sequencing workflow for outbreaks (J Clin Micro)
  • Rewriting code of life (NYTimes)
  • E. coli with a 57-codon genetic code (Science)
  • E. coli with one stop codon (TWiM 330)

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

• 337: Lifestyles of the Plasmids

  TWiM explains a study that examines pathogen presence in ancient humans and concludes that zoonoses emerged 6500 years ago with the domestication of livestock, and determination of universal rules that govern plasmid copy number.
  
  

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

  Guests: Mark O. Martin
  
  

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  Links for this episode:
  
  

  • Human pathogens in ancient Eurasia (Nature)

  • What once ailed us (NY Times)

  • Rules of plasmid copy number (Nature Comm)

  • Scaling laws of plasmids (Nature Comm)
    

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

  Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

• 336: The Volatilome of Biofluids

  TWiM explores the use of gas sensors and machine learning to identify microbes and antimicrobial resistance in clinical specimens, and how a harmful algal bloom species releases thiamin antivitamins to suppress competitors.

   

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  Links for this episode:

  • Microbial and antimicrobial resistance diagnostics (Cell Biomaterials)

  • Thiamin antivitamins suppress algal competitors (mBio)

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

  Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

   

• 335: Slip Slidin’ Away

  TWiM explains two strategies for bacterial competition for resources: by laying down a slippery lipid and pushing away competitors, or by breaking open cells with a spike, liberating essential nutrients.

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  Links for this episode:

  • Secreting a slippery lipid (mBio)

  • Lysing neighboring cells for nutrients (Science)

  • Underwater hockey (YouTube

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

  Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv