Monday, September 24, 2018

BacterioFiles 356 - Beams Boost Bolstered Bacteria

Nanomaterial-enhanced
tumor-targeting bacterium
From: Zheng et al. 2018,
Nat Commun 9:1680
This episode: Combining cells with light-absorbing nanomaterials can help tumor-targeting bacteria produce more anticancer compound!

Download Episode (10.4 MB, 11.4 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Maruca vitrata nucleopolyhedrovirus

Here's a paper I found that actually shows carbon dot nanomaterials enhancing bacterial nitrogen fixation

Journal Paper:
Zheng D-W, Chen Y, Li Z-H, Xu L, Li C-X, Li B, Fan J-X, Cheng S-X, Zhang X-Z. 2018. Optically-controlled bacterial metabolite for cancer therapy. Nat Commun 9:1680.

Other interesting stories:

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

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Episode outline:

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Hurricane Florence

No episode this week, thanks to Hurricane Florence. I'm ok though and will be back next week! Everyone stay safe.

Monday, September 10, 2018

BacterioFiles 355 - Photon Factors Favor Fancy Fuels

Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast
This episode: Engineering yeast to control their metabolism using light and dark for the production of advanced biofuels and chemicals!

Download Episode (16.1 MB, 17.7 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Equine arteritis virus

News item

Journal Paper:
Zhao EM, Zhang Y, Mehl J, Park H, Lalwani MA, Toettcher JE, Avalos JL. 2018. Optogenetic regulation of engineered cellular metabolism for microbial chemical production. Nature 555:683–687.

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

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Episode outline:

Monday, September 3, 2018

BacterioFiles 354 - Prokaryote Protection Promotes Protein Passing

Pectobacterium cells
By: The James Hutton Institute
This episode: The bacterial immune system, CRISPR-Cas, can enhance gene transfer via transduction (phages carrying bacteria DNA) despite preventing it via conjugation!

Thanks to Bridget Watson for her contribution!

Download Episode (14.9 MB, 16.3 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Human polyomavirus 8

Journal Paper:
Watson BNJ, Staals RHJ, Fineran PC. 2018. CRISPR-Cas-Mediated Phage Resistance Enhances Horizontal Gene Transfer by Transduction. mBio 9:e02406-17.

Other interesting stories:

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

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Google Play. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

Episode outline: