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.

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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)

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BacterioFiles 216 - Probiotic Promotes Peanut Permissiveness

Peanut flower

This episode: Kate Franz and Matt Woodruff from Audiommunity join me to talk about a clinical trial of peanut immunotherapy with probiotics to treat peanut allergies!

Download Episode (29 MB, 31.75 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper
Audiommunity - episode about food allergies

Other interesting stories:

Some viruses can survive being frozen for hundreds of years

Resistance to certain gut pathogen correlates with certain gut microbes (paper)

"Normal" gut microbiome probably as varied as we are ourselves

Human gut communities are very different from chimpanzees'

Figuring out how to engineer bacteria to tolerate biofuels they produce

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BacterioFiles 188 - Rat Residents Relieve Resin Roughness

Woodrat in front of creosote bush

This episode: Gut bacteria in Mojave desert woodrats help them detoxify and eat toxic creosote bushes!

Download Episode (10 MB, 10.8 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

It can be hard to recover a good microbiota

Aphids' bacterial symbionts can activate plant defenses against aphids

Probiotic bacterial strain could protect against cadmium toxicity (paper)

Predatory bacteria can prey on pathogens (paper)

Microbes can prevent some species from hybridizing

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 185 - Bacteroid Builds Beta-lactam Buffer

This episode: Antibiotic-degrading probiotics protect mouse gut microbes from hostile pathogen takeover after antibiotic treatment!

Download Episode (7.8 MB, 8.5 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

Insect bacterial symbionts can pass to offspring through sperm (paper)

Studying human history thru microbes in fossilized feces

Fungi can clean up composting-resistant pollutants in soil

Microbes could make useful product from industrial wastewater

Bacterial toxin could be used to target colon cancer cells

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 181 - Spore-formers Smash Salmonella's Solanum Strongholds

This episode: Soil bacteria could help prevent food poisoning from bacteria in raw tomatoes!

Download Episode (9.6 MB, 10.5 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

Life history correlates with gut communities, sometimes expected and sometimes not

Single bacterial species can consume multiple different organic gases

Skin bacteria may affect how wounds heal

Microbes kill frog-killing fungi

Algae can use many wavelengths of light that plants cannot

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

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BacterioFiles 173 - Illuminated Invader Inhibits Irritation

This episode: Virus helps to modify mice such that certain colors of light can cause or prevent pain!

Download Episode (10 MB, 10.8 minutes)

Show notes:
Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

Ocean bacteria give off gas that makes clouds

Killing cancer with virus plus releasing immune system's brakes

Helping bacteria clean up oil spills

Microbes can make scents and flavors more sustainably

Fungi are important for carbon stored in or released from soils too

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

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BacterioFiles 164 - Sponge Symbionts Synthesize Stuff

This episode: Bacteria symbiotic with sea sponges make many potentially useful compounds!

Download Episode (8.3 MB, 9 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

Pollutants may kill off certain important microbes in soils

Certain gut microbes help break down dietary fiber

Engineered yeast produces impressive amounts of lipids for biodiesel

Infection with Salmonella helped mice's asthma

Searching marine microbial genomes for good drugs

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

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BacterioFiles Micro Edition 134 - Duodenum Dweller Degrades Digoxin

This episode: Bacteria in the gut can affect dosaging of medications!

Download Episode (7.1 MB, 7.75 minutes)

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

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

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BacterioFiles Micro Edition 122 - Coliforms Consume Caffeine Compulsively

This episode: Scientists engineer E. coli to be addicted to caffeine!

Download Episode (4.3 MB, 4.75 minutes)
Transcript

Show notes:
News Item 1/News Item 2/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

**Figuring out how microbes survive in salty freezing lakes
**Bacterial wires conduct electricity because of certain amino acids
**Making cyanobacteria produce butanol biofuel
**Byproduct of algal biofuel production could be made into biodegradable plastic
**Phage therapy looking more promising

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

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BacterioFiles Micro Edition 118 - Fungi Found in Seafloor Sediments

This episode: Fungi are found living deep under the sea!

Download Episode (3.15 MB, 3.5 minutes)
Transcript

Show notes:
News Item/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:

**Scientists test artificial feces transplants to treat C. difficile infections
**Exposure to bacteria from adult male mice seems to protect young female mice against type 1 diabetes
**Bacteria that take electrons from iron can take them directly from electricity too and fix carbon dioxide
**Sea creatures often team up with bacteria that produce potential new drugs
**Engineered herpes virus could inhibit metastasis of certain cancers

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

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BacterioFiles 99 - Protecting Pathogen Proteins Produces Potential Preventives

This episode: Using a bacterial trick to protect pathogen proteins from radiation could help produce useful vaccines!

Download Episode (5.3 MB, 5.75 minutes)
Transcript

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:
**Seeing how modern bacteria fare with a 500-million-year-old gene replacement
**Microbes are domesticated too, such as this fermentative fungus
**Probiotics can help with upper respiratory tract infections (Review)
**In elderly, living conditions can affect the health of gut microbial communities
**Fungus can help clean up contaminated water in mines

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

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BacterioFiles Micro Edition 86 - Bacteria Boost Beta Business

This episode: Engineered bacteria help reverse type 1 diabetes in mice!

Download Episode (3.4 MB, 3.75 minutes)
Transcript

Show notes:
News item/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:
**Making more environmentally friendly solar panels with bacteria
**Multiple bacterial species can make more electricity in fuel cell than just one (paper)
**Studying the spike viruses use to pierce and infect bacteria
**Bacteria steadily breaking down the Titanic
**Potential for using probiotic bacteria to preserve food (paper)
**Using probiotics to help with heavy metal contamination, in fish at least (paper)
**Potential of bacteria from Italian hydrothermal vents (paper)

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

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BacterioFiles Micro Edition 45 - Partners Produce Prion-Pulverizing Proteins

This episode: Some lichens can degrade environmental prions!

Download Episode (4 MB, 4.5 minutes)
Transcript

Show notes:
News item/Journal paper/Actual test of enzyme application

Other interesting stories:
**E. coli quickly evolves to withstand high pressures
**Developing fungi deadly to insect pests and disease vectors
**Bacteria could help carry materials for nanofabrication
**Engineering E. coli to produce biofuel
**Fungus-fighting fungus could treat diseases of plants and people
**Eukaryotic microbe has seven different sexes

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

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BacterioFiles Micro Edition 27 - Ingenious Influenza Immunizations

This episode: Flu vaccine made by bacteria!

Download Episode (3.75 MB, 4 minutes)

Show notes:
News item/Journal paper/Flu efficacy

Other interesting stories:
**How bacteria sense cold temperatures
**How a common virus can kill cancer especially
**Enabling electronic control of bacteria
**Using bacteria to treat cancer
**Bacteria don't have the energy to be more complex

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

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BacterioFiles Micro Edition 8 - Uncovering Undiscovered Unguents

This episode: Mining microbes for new compounds!

Download Episode (3.4 MB, 3.75 minutes)

Download Just the Story

Show notes:
News item/Journal paper

Other interesting stories:
**A yeast may help treat plant diseases

**Tasty ocean microbes are dying

**Breastmilk bacteria may defend against HIV

**Bacteria riding on small creatures in water reach new places

**Synthetic engineers find circuit that makes bacteria pop

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

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BacterioFiles Micro Edition 6 - Acid Animalcules Against AIDS

This episode: A preventative treatment for AIDS using live bacteria!

Download Episode (2.6 MB, 3 minutes)

Download Just the Story

Show notes:
News item/Journal paper

Other interesting stories:
**Community structure on microbial fuel cells may not be ideal

**Microbes making alkanes, components of biofuel

**Marine microbes inhibit biofilm formation of pathogens
**Microbes are important for health

**Studying the origins of oil

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

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or SciencePodcasters.org

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BacterioFiles Episode 12

In this show, I report on four exciting stories: interesting organisms found living in acid, purple bacteria's efficiency in capturing light, a cocaine overdose treatment from bacteria, and comparing E. coli to Linux.

(Image credit: Yale, PNAS)


Download Episode (13.3 MB, 14.6 minutes)

Download Sections:
Intro
Current Event
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Ending Comments

Show notes:
Current Event: News item 1/News item 2/News item 3
Story 1: News item/Journal paper
Story 2: News item/Journal Paper
Story 3: News item/Journal Paper
Story 4: News item 1/News item 2/Journal Paper

Other interesting stories:
**Fear of Earthly microbes contaminating Mars
**Where oil comes from
**Fossils on Earth give hints about finding Martian life
**How probiotics are used more than they are known to work
**Fighting brain cancer with viruses
**A company that makes "solar panels" filled with microbes
**How soil microbes shouldn't be as bad for global warming as was thought
**How gut microbes affect bowel health
**A plant virus that now infects vertebrate animals
**Probiotics help premature infants
**How some marine bacteria can use sunlight too
**How gut microbes can affect celiac disease

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

Subscribe at iTunes, check out the show at Twitter, MicrobeWorld, or SciencePodcasters.org

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