479 - Uncomplicated Critters Conquer Cancer

T. adhaerens
By Fortunato et al. 2021.
PLOS Biol e3001471
CC BY 4.0

This episode: Simple microscopic animals can survive extreme radiation by ejecting damaged cells that might otherwise become cancer!
Download Episode (7.3 MB, 9.2 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Helleborus net necrosis virus

News item

Takeaways

Any multicellular organism with different types of cells needs some sort of cell regulation, to keep each cell type doing what it’s supposed to do for the good of the organism as a whole. We know what happens when this regulation fails and one type of cells starts multiplying out of control: cancer.

However, cancer has never yet been observed in certain organisms, including the simple microscopic animal Trichoplax adhaerens. In this study, these animals are exposed to large amounts of radiation and then observed over years to see if they can develop cancer or have interesting mechanisms of resisting it.

Journal Paper:
Fortunato A, Fleming A, Aktipis A, Maley CC. 2021. Upregulation of DNA repair genes and cell extrusion underpin the remarkable radiation resistance of Trichoplax adhaerens. PLOS Biol 19:e3001471.

Other interesting stories:

• Genes transferred from bacteria to algae helped land plants evolve

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

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435 - Invader Introducing Infrared Invokes Immunity

Mouse with darkened tumor
By Yi et al. 2020,
Sci Adv 6:eaba3546
CC BY-NC 4.0

This episode: Combining Salmonella with something called photoimmunotherapy to attack tumors in multiple ways!

Download Episode (8.2 MB, 11.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Shimwellia blattae

Takeaways

Distinguishing healthy from unhealthy tissue is one of the big challenges when dealing with cancer. Since cancer is derived from healthy tissue, there are many similarities between them that make it hard to target it specifically. This is especially important when cancer is spread in multiple places throughout the body, as opposed to a single tumor that can be removed locally.

In this study, bacteria modified to make them safer were injected into mice with tumors. The bacteria alone were capable of doing some damage to the tumors, and this damage happened to make the tumors darker. Using this color change, the scientists targeted the tumors with lasers to heat them up and kill them in an isolated manner. This had the added benefit of inducing an immune response against the cancer that could target it throughout the body.

Journal Paper:
Yi X, Zhou H, Chao Y, Xiong S, Zhong J, Chai Z, Yang K, Liu Z. 2020. Bacteria-triggered tumor-specific thrombosis to enable potent photothermal immunotherapy of cancer. Science Advances 6:eaba3546.

Other interesting stories:

• Bacteria could help make nylon more sustainably
• Glowing bacteria living in nematodes that kill insects may also interact with and protect plant roots (paper)

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427 - Simple Cells Stay Strong

Fluorescent SimCells
By Fan et al. 2020,
PNAS 117(12):6752
CC BY 4.0

This episode: Bacterial cells with their genomes removed can still be active and useful!


Download Episode (10.2 MB, 14.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Rosavirus A

Takeaways

Microbes have amazing biochemical transformation abilities, creating and breaking down many compounds and proteins. This makes them great candidates for many purposes, in medicine, industry, and environmental remediation. In some of these purposes, though, there are risks associated with adding foreign microbes, especially engineered ones, that can replicate themselves and possibly persist, into new places.

To avoid this risk, this study turns intact bacteria into SimCells, simplified entities with most of their genetic material removed, leaving only the proteins and other components and just enough DNA to accomplish desired tasks. These SimCells were able to continue performing tasks for around 10 days before running out of the cellular resources needed to keep going. One of these tasks was producing a compound that damaged cancer cells in a dish but left non-cancerous cells unharmed.

Journal Paper:
Fan C, Davison PA, Habgood R, Zeng H, Decker CM, Salazar MG, Lueangwattanapong K, Townley HE, Yang A, Thompson IP, Ye H, Cui Z, Schmidt F, Hunter CN, Huang WE. 2020. Chromosome-free bacterial cells are safe and programmable platforms for synthetic biology. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117:6752–6761.

Other interesting stories:

• Biofuel-producing bacteria can generate electricity at the same time (paper)
• Using dried microbial biomass as fertilizer works pretty well (paper)

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BacterioFiles 400 - Considering Consumables' Community Correlations

Fusobacterium

This episode: Figuring out how gut communities change with changes in diet!

Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.8 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Hepacivirus A

News item

Takeaways
Diet can play a big role in our health. It's not a magic pill that can cure or prevent anything, but a good diet can significantly reduce many health risks for the average person, compared with a bad diet.

Diet also has a big effect on the community of microbes in our gut, and this may play a role in the health effects we see from diet, so understanding how food and microbes interact is important. This study looked at the diet quality of participants in several food categories, and correlated this with various kinds of microbes found inside them.

Journal Paper:
Liu Y, Ajami NJ, El-Serag HB, Hair C, Graham DY, White DL, Chen L, Wang Z, Plew S, Kramer J, Cole R, Hernaez R, Hou J, Husain N, Jarbrink-Sehgal ME, Kanwal F, Ketwaroo G, Natarajan Y, Shah R, Velez M, Mallepally N, Petrosino JF, Jiao L. 2019. Dietary quality and the colonic mucosa–associated gut microbiome in humans. Am J Clin Nutr 110:701–712.

Other interesting stories:

• Sea slug uses defensive toxins that bacteria make for algae it eats
• Good bacteria help bats survive deadly fungus

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

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BacterioFiles 381 - Chlorophyll Can Convey Cancer Characteristics

Tumor imaging by MSOT
By Peters et al. 2019,
Nat Commun 10:1191, CC BY 4.0

This episode: Pigmented bacteria can be used in a cancer imaging technique that combines light and sound!

Download Episode (8.9 MB, 9.75 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces bellus

Takeaways
Because "cancer" is a general term that describes many different forms of disease affecting different cells in different parts of the body, effective cancer treatment relies on understanding the location and physiology of the cancer in a given patient. New imaging technologies for diagnosis and analysis of cancer and for cancer research can be very valuable, especially if they don't require big investments of money and space.

One promising imaging technology is called multispectral optoacoustic imaging, or MSOT. This uses pulses of light to create vibrations as pigments in tissues absorb the light and undergo thermal expansion; these vibrations are then detected by ultrasound technology. This approach allows good resolution and depth of imaging without large equipment like MRI machines, but the best results require adding pigments into the body.

In this study, scientists showed that the photosynthetic pigments of purple non-sulfur bacteria can be useful in this optoacoustic imaging, providing a somewhat long-term, nontoxic approach. It proved especially interesting when they discovered that the wavelength spectrum changing over time was an indication of macrophage activity in the tumors.

Journal Paper:
Peters L, Weidenfeld I, Klemm U, Loeschcke A, Weihmann R, Jaeger K-E, Drepper T, Ntziachristos V, Stiel AC. 2019. Phototrophic purple bacteria as optoacoustic in vivo reporters of macrophage activity. Nat Commun 10:1191.

Other interesting stories:

• Figuring out the structure of bacterial nanowires

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

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BacterioFiles 375 - Prepared Pathogen Preserves Perception

This episode: A cancer-killing virus could help increase success of treatment of a form of eye cancer in children!

Download Episode (8.0 MB, 8.7 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus

News item

Takeaways
Cancer obviously is a serious concern, and can be tricky to treat because there are endless varieties in all different places in the body, each of which can have its own expected progression, aggressiveness, and methods of treatment to take into account.

Even more serious is when the cancer is in very young children, as is often the case with a cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma. There are about 8000 cases of this disease per year, and when treatment is unsuccessful, it can lead to the loss of one or both eyes.

In this study, investigators looked into using a cancer-targeting, oncolytic virus to complement the normal treatment of chemotherapy. The virus for the most part remained localized to the eye where it should be, and targeted the cancer instead of healthy cells, and so seems promising. In the small trial with two patients included in this study, the virus didn't cause a complete recovery, but showed some modest promising results.

Journal Paper:
Pascual-Pasto G, Bazan-Peregrino M, Olaciregui NG, Restrepo-Perdomo CA, Mato-Berciano A, Ottaviani D, Weber K, Correa G, Paco S, Vila-Ubach M, Cuadrado-Vilanova M, Castillo-Ecija H, Botteri G, Garcia-Gerique L, Moreno-Gilabert H, Gimenez-Alejandre M, Alonso-Lopez P, Farrera-Sal M, Torres-Manjon S, Ramos-Lozano D, Moreno R, Aerts I, Doz F, Cassoux N, Chapeaublanc E, Torrebadell M, Roldan M, König A, Suñol M, Claverol J, Lavarino C, De TC, Fu L, Radvanyi F, Munier FL, Catalá-Mora J, Mora J, Alemany R, Cascalló M, Chantada GL, Carcaboso AM. 2019. Therapeutic targeting of the RB1 pathway in retinoblastoma with the oncolytic adenovirus VCN-01. Sci Transl Med 11:eaat9321.

Other interesting stories:

• Exploring how microbes can influence the flavor of coffee

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

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BacterioFiles 370 - Magnets Make Messenger More Moveable

Baculoviruses in occlusion body

This episode: Enhancing a virus with magnetic nanoparticles and CRISPR-Cas gene editing abilities makes it a good vector for genetic therapies!

Download Episode (11.2 MB, 12.25 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Staphylococcus virus S253

News item

Takeaways
Gene delivery, getting genetic content for gene therapy to the correct tissues in an organism, has long been a very tricky problem. And genetic modification, making specific changes at a specific place in a genome, is also difficult.

Viruses can help with both delivery and modification, but they're often not specific and targeted enough to be effective, or even safe. Off-target effects could be harmful or even deadly, potentially resulting in cancer.

In this study, a virus is modified with nanotechnology in the form of tiny magnets to allow humans to target it to specific tissues, and given the ability to modify specific genes using the bacterial CRISPR-Cas system. These modifications potentially make this gene delivery system much more safe and effective.

Journal Paper:
Zhu H, Zhang L, Tong S, Lee CM, Deshmukh H, Bao G. 2018. Spatial control of in vivo CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing via nanomagnets. Nat Biomed Eng.

Other interesting stories:

• Bacteria found in hot, dry areas could have potentially useful industrial enzymes (paper)
• Gut bacteria help regulate vitamin A activity in gut
• Confined swimming bacteria form shifting vortex like clothes washer (paper)

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

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BacterioFiles 366 - Globules Get Garbage Gone

By: Rang et al, 2018
mSphere 3:e00428-18

This episode: Bacteria rid themselves of burdensome waste by ejecting it inside little pieces of their own cell, called minicells!


Download Episode (10.8 MB, 11.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Cacao yellow mosaic virus

News item

Journal Papers:
Rang CU, Proenca A, Buetz C, Shi C, Chao L. 2018. Minicells as a Damage Disposal Mechanism in Escherichia coli. mSphere 3:e00428-18.

Other interesting stories:

• Gut microbe can help protect mice from colon cancer (paper)
• Microbes living in super-dry desert couldn't survive excess rains

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

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Episode outline:

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:

• Viruses infect marine algae, which release shells into air and affect clouds

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 352 - Staphylococcus Stops Skin Swellings

Staphylococcus epidermidis

This episode: A harmless strain of bacteria on the skin produces a compound that can prevent tumors from forming!

Download Episode (9.2 MB, 10 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Hamiltonella virus APSE1

News item

Journal Paper:
Nakatsuji T, Chen TH, Butcher AM, Trzoss LL, Nam S-J, Shirakawa KT, Zhou W, Oh J, Otto M, Fenical W, Gallo RL. 2018. A commensal strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis protects against skin neoplasia. Sci Adv 4:eaao4502.

Other interesting stories:

• Eating crickets could be good for your gut microbes
• Even probiotic bacteria could cause problems if they overgrow

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 347 - Adenovirus Adapter Allows Assignment

Virus and shielded virus
Schmid et al, 2018, Nat Commun

This episode: Adding adapters to anti-cancer virus helps it avoid destruction by the body so it can target the tumors!

Thanks to Dr. Andreas Plückthun for his contribution!

Download Episode (7.8 MB, 8.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Tomato leaf curl Vietnam virus

News item

Journal Paper:
Schmid M, Ernst P, Honegger A, Suomalainen M, Zimmermann M, Braun L, Stauffer S, Thom C, Dreier B, Eibauer M, Kipar A, Vogel V, Greber UF, Medalia O, Plückthun A. 2018. Adenoviral vector with shield and adapter increases tumor specificity and escapes liver and immune control. Nat Commun 9:450.

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 345 - Super Sonic Cell Sacs

Anabaena flos-aquae,
a source for gas vesicle genes

This episode: Protein bags of gas in bacteria could help make ultrasound imaging more versatile!

Download Episode (7.6 MB, 8.25 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Cronobacter virus Esp2949-1

News item

Journal Paper:
Bourdeau RW, Lee-Gosselin A, Lakshmanan A, Farhadi A, Kumar SR, Nety SP, Shapiro MG. 2018. Acoustic reporter genes for noninvasive imaging of microorganisms in mammalian hosts. Nature 553:86–90.

Other interesting stories:

Laxatives shown very disruptive to gut microbes in mice

Evidence not good that probiotics can reduce anxiety in people

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 316 - Studying Sizeable Special Synthetases

Beauvericin
By Yu et al. 2017, Nat Commun
CC-BY 4.0

This episode: Scientists study how fungi make interesting peptides using large proteins instead of ribosomes.

Download Episode (8.7 MB, 9.5 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Nerine virus X

News item

Journal Paper:
Yu D, Xu F, Zhang S, Zhan J. 2017. Decoding and reprogramming fungal iterative nonribosomal peptide synthetases. Nat Commun 8:ncomms15349.

Other interesting stories:

Using CRISPR to encode a short movie into a bacterial genome (paper)

Virus that tolerates boiling acid could be model for super-tough nanomaterials

Avoiding microbiota disruption protects frogs from parasites

Soil microbe communities are also recovering in prairie restoration

Couples modify each other's microbe communities, though not much

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

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Episode outline:

BacterioFiles 259 - Fluke Froth Fosters Fester Fixing

This episode: I converse with Dr. Michael Smout about a liver fluke parasite could help heal chronic wounds faster!
Download Episode (13.4 MB, 14.6 minutes)

Show notes:
News item

Journal Paper:
Smout MJ, Sotillo J, Laha T, Papatpremsiri A, Rinaldi G, Pimenta RN, Chan LY, Johnson MS, Turnbull L, Whitchurch CB, Giacomin PR, Moran CS, Golledge J, Daly N, Sripa B, Mulvenna JP, Brindley PJ, Loukas A. 2015. Carcinogenic Parasite Secretes Growth Factor That Accelerates Wound Healing and Potentially Promotes Neoplasia. PLOS Pathog 11:e1005209.

Michael Smout's research portfolio
Winning presentation about this research on FameLab
The Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine

Other interesting stories:

Good bacteria help protect fish from pathogens (paper)

New microbes from glacial ice could be useful (paper)

Making hybrid yeast could create potentially useful strains

Cooperating bacteria exclude non-cooperators from their colonies

Engineered bacteria can have built-in kill switches to control them in environment (paper)

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

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BacterioFiles 244 - Rabbit Viruses Exploding Cancer

This episode: A conversation with Audiommunity hosts about a rabbit virus that may help treat cancer while preventing the treatment from killing the patient!

Download Episode (39.2 MB, 42.9 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper
Audiommunity podcast
Unedited version of this episode

Other interesting stories:

Finding algae in glacial ice on mountains Peru

Soil bacteria inhibit carcinogen production by fungi (paper)

Birds carry around many kinds of plant bacteria

Thinking of leaf-cutter ant fungus gardens as biotech fermentations (paper)

Making Azotobacter mutants that can produce fertilizer for other organisms (paper)

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

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This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.

BacterioFiles 241 - Colon Colonizers Control Cancer Combat

I'm back!

This episode: Gut microbes enhance the effectiveness of cancer therapies!

Download Episode (10.7 MB, 11.7 minutes)

Show notes:
News item 1/News item 2/Journal Paper 1/Journal paper 2

Other interesting stories:

Microbiome an important link between diet and colon cancer

Viruses can be helpful more often than we realize

Fungus breaks down plant matter and makes jet fuel

Engineering E. coli for better exploration of other species' genetic potential

It's possible our food might be too clean

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

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This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.

BacterioFiles 231 - Creating Cancer-Killing Cultures

This episode: Engineering Salmonella strains that kill cancer cells but leave healthy ones alone!

Download Episode (7.9 MB, 8.5 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

Rocks floating on a lake house interesting microbes (paper)

Aerobiology - how bacteria affect the weather

Modified gut bacteria could control populations of insect disease vectors (paper)

Gut microbiome's health effects are not so simple

Some traits could be inherited via bacteria

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BacterioFiles 203 - P. putida Promotes Plant Pollutant Purification

This episode: Bacteria living in plants could help plants clean up cancer-causing pollutants!

Download Episode (6.9 MB, 7.5 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper

NCSU Master's of Microbial Biotechnology Website
Paul Hamilton: website/email

Other interesting stories:

Amphibian skin bacteria can fight deadly infectious fungus (paper)

Human skin fungus surprisingly found in harsh ocean environments

Using bacteria to remove stinky compounds from wastewater

Making painkillers from microbes instead of plants

Fungal parasites only influence behavior of their specific ant host species

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This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.

BacterioFiles 195 - CRISPR/Cas Cuts Cancer Causers

This episode: Bacterial antivirus system could treat chronic herpes virus infections!

Download Episode (10.9 MB, 11.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

Studying bacteria that consume and produce electricity

Fungus living in rice seems like it evolved from rice pathogen (paper)

Bacteria growing with plants could help clean air in buildings (paper)

Understanding how Caulobacter tolerates high levels of uranium (paper)

Report about how viruses are more than pathogens

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BacterioFiles 183 - Simplex-Sick Stem Cell Salve

This episode: Cancer-killing viruses could work even better when loaded into stem cells!

Download Episode (8.3 MB, 9 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

Many genes can be swapped in area around fungal mycelia (paper)

Fungus could help control invasive tree species

Dust storms can have effects by spreading fungal spores (paper)

Hand bacteria differ between people in different places

Microbiome manipulation seems to be rising as a medical treatment

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

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This show features music from Mevio's podsafe Music Alley.