Monday, January 30, 2017

BacterioFiles 284 - Remedies Reduce Recipient Rejection

This episode: Modifying mice's microbial communities increased mouse survival before a transplantation was rejected by their immune system!
Download Episode (9.6 MB, 10.5 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Lei YM, Chen L, Wang Y, Stefka AT, Molinero LL, Theriault B, Aquino-Michaels K, Sivan AS, Nagler CR, Gajewski TF, Chong AS, Bartman C, Alegre M-L. 2016. The composition of the microbiota modulates allograft rejection. J Clin Invest 126:2736–2744.

Other interesting stories:
  • CRISPR system can be used to record info in cells (paper)
  • The history of beer yeasts
  • Bacteria could help treat citrus tree disease (paper)
  • Some viruses bud off from Archaea like in eukaryotes (paper)
  • Infant microbe communities different with vs. without eczema (paper)

  • Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

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    Monday, January 23, 2017

    BacterioFiles 283 - Phages Furnish Photosynthetic Fortifications

    Nostoc
    By YAMAMAYA, CC BY-SA 3.0
    This episode: Viruses infecting photosynthetic bacteria could transfer immunity to other viruses between their hosts!
    Download Episode (6.8 MB, 7.4 minutes)

    Show notes:
    News item

    Journal Paper:
    Chénard C, Wirth JF, Suttle CA. 2016. Viruses Infecting a Freshwater Filamentous Cyanobacterium (Nostoc sp.) Encode a Functional CRISPR Array and a Proteobacterial DNA Polymerase B. mBio 7:e00667-16.

    Other interesting stories:
  • Salt-loving bacteria could maintain concrete structures in the ocean (paper)
  • Ancient viral infection changed how mammals develop placentas and muscle
  • Bees and flowers trade microbes
  • Fungi have specific genes that help trees with drought
  • Probiotic can affect Candida yeast's virulence (paper)

  • Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

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    Monday, January 16, 2017

    BacterioFiles 282 - Mycobacteria Make Mice Mellow

    Elevated plus-maze
    By Bd008 - Own work
    CC BY-SA 3.0
    This episode: Vaccinating mice with heat-killed soil bacteria reduced their stressed behavior and inflammation!
    Download Episode (9.8 MB, 10.7 minutes)

    Show notes:
    Journal Paper:
    Reber SO, Siebler PH, Donner NC, Morton JT, Smith DG, Kopelman JM, Lowe KR, Wheeler KJ, Fox JH, Hassell JE, Greenwood BN, Jansch C, Lechner A, Schmidt D, Uschold-Schmidt N, Füchsl AM, Langgartner D, Walker FR, Hale MW, Perez GL, Treuren WV, González A, Halweg-Edwards AL, Fleshner M, Raison CL, Rook GA, Peddada SD, Knight R, Lowry CA. 2016. Immunization with a heat-killed preparation of the environmental bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae promotes stress resilience in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci 113:E3130–E3139.

    Other interesting stories:
  • Art with glowing bacteria
  • Making good bacterial tumor killers (paper)
  • It's worth considering plants' microbes in addition to their genes (review)
  • Virus affects how bees are attracted to plants
  • Finding new biofuels algae in wastewater (paper)

  • Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

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    Monday, January 9, 2017

    BacterioFiles 281 - Prokaryote Partners Produce Plastic

    Azotobacter vinelandii
    This episode: Microbes with complementary abilities help each other grow and produce useful stuff from the air!
    Download Episode (12 MB, 13.2 minutes)

    Show notes:
    Journal Paper:
    Smith MJ, Francis MB. 2016. A designed A. vinelandii-S. elongatus coculture for chemical photoproduction from air, water, phosphate and trace metals. ACS Synth Biol 5:955–961.

    Other interesting stories:
  • Bypass surgery might fix diabetes by modifying gut community
  • Using bacteria to make wrinkly graphene with different properties
  • Figuring out what controls where microbes live in plants
  • Gut bacteria maybe related to rheumatoid arthritis
  • Gut bacteria maybe related to multiple sclerosis

  • Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

    Subscribe at iTunes or Google Play, support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter, or Facebook