This Week in Microbiology – Details, episodes & analysis

TWiM describes experiments to explore gut microbiota signatures of vulnerability to food addiction in mice and humans, and how a phage tail-like protein suppresses competitors in populations of bacteria of plants.

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

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• Gut microbiota and food addiction (Probiotics)
• Blautia may have probiotic properties (Gut Microbes)
• Blautia wexlerae ameliorates obesity and type 2 diabetes (Nat Commun)
• Phage tail–like bacteriocin suppresses competitors (Science)
• What is a bacteriocin? (Front Micro)
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TWiM explores evolution and host adaptation of Pseudomonas infections of plants, and the impact of COVID-19 on ESBL-producing E. coli on urinary tract and blood infections.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Michael Schmidt.

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• Evolution and host adaptation of Pseudomonas (Science)
• Type III secretion system, infection by injection (Nat Comm)
• Demographic inference with skyline plots (Peer J)
• Skyline plots (Taming the Beast)
• Panaroo, a bacterial genome analysis pipeline (Wellcome Sanger Inst)
• Impact of COVID-19 on ESBL-producing E. coli infections (Antimicro Resist Inf Control)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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TWiM discusses the identification of natural products from reconstructed ancient bacterial genomes, and how plant mRNAs move into a fungal pathogen via extracellular vesicles to reduce infection.

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

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• Natural products from ancient bacterial genomes (Science)
• Plant mRNAs move into fungal pathogens (Cell Host Microb)
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Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv

The TWiM team discuses saliva as more sensitive for SARS-CoV-2 detection in COVID-19 patients than nasopharyngeal swab and how Mycobacterium tuberculosis sulfolipid-1 activates nociceptive neurons and induces cough.

Links for this episode:

• Preventing the next pandemic (NY Times)
• COVID-19 treatment guidelines (NIH)
• Saliva sensitive for SARS-CoV-2 detection (medRxiv)
• A mycobacterial molecule provokes cough (Cell)
• Letters read on TWiM 216
• 20% off The Invisible ABCs for TWiM listeners! Use promo code: ABC20 at checkout.
  

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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

A ferret model for infection by SARS-CoV-2, and how Neolithization lead to emergence of a human bacterial pathogen.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michele Swanson and Michael Schmidt

Links for this episode:

• Infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in ferrets (Cell Host Micr)
• Neolithization led to emergence of Salmonella enterica (Nat Ecol Evol)
• Arnold Demain (Wikipedia)

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

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Vincent, Elio and Michael reveal the ASM COVID-19 summit, and how Salmonella injects a protein into the cell to drive suppression of the immune response.

• ASM COVID-19 Summit
• Value of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing (mBio)
• How SARS-CoV-2 is changing (nextstrain)
• Contribute to COVID-19 data
• Salmonella effector suppresses inflammation (Cell Host Micr)

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Vincent, Elio and Michael discuss the stability of human coronaviruses on surfaces and in aerosols, and peptidoglycan production by a mosaic consisting of a bacterium within a bacterium within an insect.

Links for this episode:

• Human coronavirus 229E infectivity on common surfaces (mBio)
• Aerosol and surface stability of SARS-CoV-2 (medRxiv)
• Peptidoglycan synthesis by a insect-bacteria mosaic (Cell)
• Letters read on TWiM 213

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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

The TWiM team reviews the coronavirus outbreak that began in Wuhan, China, and the finding that an IRF deficiency underlies Whipple’s disease. 

• 2019-nCoV case tracking (JHU)
• Clinical features of infection with 2019-nCoV (Lancet)
• Early transmission dynamics of 2019-nCoV (NEJM)
• Isolation of 2019-nCoV (NEJM)
• TLR4 defect in Whipple’s disease (eLife)

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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

The Fellowship of the TWiM reveal that colorectal cancer-associated microbiota are associated with higher numbers of methylated genes in colonic mucosa, and identification of metabolites needed by the fire blight disease bacterium for virulence in apples.

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Links for this episode:

• Colorectal cancer and the gut microbiome (PNAS)
• Fire blight (YouTube)
• Fire blight spreads north (NY Times)
• E. amylovora auxotrophs (Appl Environ Micro)

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

The Microbial Comrades present the oldest osteosynthesis in history, and how a small molecule produced by stressed bacteria is a warning signal that repels healthy populations to promote their survival.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, Michele Swanson and Michael Schmidt

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• P. aeruginosa PQS repels bacteria(J Bact)
• PQS signaling(J Bact)
• Letters read on TWiM 210
• TWiM Listener survey

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv