This Week in Microbiology
This Week in Microbiology is a podcast about unseen life on Earth hosted by Vincent Racaniello and friends. Following in the path of his successful shows 'This Week in Virology' (TWiV) and 'This Week in Parasitism' (TWiP), Racaniello and guests produce an informal yet informative conversation about microbes which is accessible to everyone, no matter what their science background.
Bacteria Inside a Fungus Sabotage Plant Defenses
TWiM explains how bacterial endosymbionts enhance fungal virulence by disrupting the protective rhizobiome, and the development of rationally engineered Salmonella typhimurium strains with enhanced safety and antitumor efficacy.
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DNA Damage as Defense Against Bee Pathogens
TWiM wonders why archaea are not pathogenic, and reveals how a colibactin produced by a honeybee gut symbiont defends against pathogens.
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Why Vegetables Are Good for Your Heart
TWiM explains the finding that Bunsen burners do not decrease deposition of microbe-containing particles, and how gut microbiota generate dinitrosyl iron complexes with cardiometabolic benefits.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Michael Schmidt
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Bunsen burners don't do what you thought they did (Micro Spectrum)
How does air circulate in passenger planes? | AFP
When Gut Bacteria Share Chromosomes
TWiM explains how movement of DNA among gut bacteria drive large-scale genome mosaicism, and validation of a method for detection of Cyclospora cayetanensis in outbreak-linked fresh produce.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin
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Natural DNA transformation in the gut (ISME J)
The transformation factor (J Exp Med)
Bacteria and Colon Cancer Recurrence
TWiM explains the discovery of an avirulent bacterial signature associated with the development of recurrence following colorectal cancer surgery, and phage-derived proteins and conjugates that induce pilus detachment.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin
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Bacterial signature is associated with colon cancer recurrence (Nat Comm)
Phage-derived proteins induce pilus detachment (J Bact)
Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@mi...
Nitrogen Fixation Goes Eukaryotic
TWiM explains major implications of the link between plastic pollution and antimicrobial resistance, and the discovery of a new organelle, the nitrogen-fixing nitroplast.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
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Plastic pollution and antimicrobial resistance (Appl Envir Micro) The great Pacific garbage patch (YouTube) Rumen microbiome (Nat Biotech) Nitrogen-fixing organelle in marine alga (Science) This cell just changed biology (YouTube) Take the TWiM Listener survey!Kin Killing and Metal Hunger
TWiM explains how cannibalism shapes biofilm structure and composition in Bacillus subtilis, and the importance of manganese uptake in uropathogenic E. coli during urinary tract infection.
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Gut Microbes and ALS
TWiM explains the connection between inflammation caused by microbial glycogen in the gut and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and how disruption of cysteine metabolism leads to synthetic lethality and in vivo fitness impairment in Acinetobacter baumannii.
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Remembering Elio at Tufts
TWiM visits Tufts University School of Medcine and are joined by John Coffin, Michael Malamy, and Verna Manni for a tribute to Elio Schaechter who was chair of Molecular Biology and Microbiology for 23 years.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin
Guests: John Coffin, Michael Malamy, and Verna Manni
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Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.
Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv
Nanopore to the bone
TWiM explains how Streptococcus mitis bacteriocins drive contact-dependent lysis of S. pneumoniae facilitating transformation, and microbial dominance in diabetic foot osteomyelitis determined with nanopore sequencing.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson
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Links for this episode
Streptococcus mitis bacteriocins drive contact-dependent lysis of S. pneumoniae (mBio) Microbial dominance in diabetic foot osteomyelitis determined with nanopore sequencing (J Inf Dis) Diabetic foot ulcer review (World J Clin Cases) How nanopore sequencing works (YouTube)Become a Patron of TWiM!
Music used on TW...
Bacteria Complete Your tRNA
TWiM explains how an enhanced domestication method allows for growth of uncultured bacteria, and identification of the oncogene SLC35F2 as is a high-specificity transporter for the micronutrients queuine and queuosine.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson.
Guest: Mark O. Martin
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
Domestication method for uncultured bacteria (ISME Comm) Transporter for the micronutrients queuine and queuosine (PNAS) How diet and microbiome can impact y...How a Gut Microbe Worsens Heart Disease
TWiM explains a candidate signature of health in the gut microbial community, and how an intestinal bacterium exacerbates cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Petra Levin.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
A candidate signature of health in the gut microbiome (Cell Host Microbe) 204,938 reference genomes from the human gut microbiome (Nat Biotech) A human gut metagenome-assembled genome catalogue spanning 41 countries (Nat Micro) A comprehensive ruminant m...Microbial Metabolism of Food Allergens
TWiM explains how to use microbes to enhance maize yield and reduce corn rootworm damage, and how the human microbiota modulates IgE-mediated reactions to foods through allergen metabolism.
Hosts: Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin, and Michele Swanson.
Guest: Mark O. Martin
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
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Harnessing Microbes for Crop Production (Phytobiome J) Microbes take on corn rootworm (Science) Microbial metabolism of food allergens (Cell Host Microbe) Take the TWiM Li...Microbial Gut Biosensors
TWiM reveals the archaeal roots of eukaryotic life, and a building a gut malabsorption biosensor with bacteria.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
The archaeal roots of eukaryotic life (PNAS) Building a malabsorption biosensor (Cell) Engineering gut biosensors with microbes (Nature) Take the TWiM Listener survey!Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv
Resistance Reboot
TWiM discusses the use of bacteriophage-loaded microneedle patches for targeted and minimally disruptive foodborne pathogen decontamination, and a conjugal gene drive-like system that efficiently suppresses antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
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Bacteriophage-loaded microneedle patches for food (Sci Adv)
Gene drive to suppress antibiotic resistance (npj antimicrob and resistance)
CRISPR gene drives (Syntego)
Bier laboratory
Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Send your microbiology que...
TWiM Goes to College
Nancy and Maggie join TWiM to share how and why they created a freely available ebook of TWiM-based science literacy resources and classroom exercises that support teaching across key microbiology and molecular biology topics.
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Punctured to Death by Spikes
TWiM explains how mechano-bactericidal surfaces made from diverse materials and patterned with spikes kill bacteria on contact, and virus-host evolution is reshaped by microgravity aboard the International Space Station.
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The Bark Side of the Microbiome
TWiM explains the finding that owning a dog during adolescence alters the microbiota and improves mental health, and the molecular basis for multidrug efflux by an anaerobic-associated resistance-nodulation-cell division transporter.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Petra Levin.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
Dog ownership and the microbiome during adolescence (iScience) Molecular basis for multidrug efflux (Nat Comm) Take the TWiM Listener survey!Send your microbiology questions and co...
At Wound's Edge
TWiM explains how S. aureus pathogenicity is a dynamic, niche-specific choreography that constantly recalibrates in response to the host microenvironment, and short chain fatty acids produced by commensal microbiota reduces its competitive fitness.
Hosts: Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Petra Levin.
Guest: Mark O. Martin
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Niche-specific fitness of S. aureus at the wound edge (Nat Comm)
Commensal derived
Metabolism and Porin Permeability
TWiM explains how competition for nutrients anticipates and potentially mitigate drug side effects on the gut microbiota, and metabolic control of porin permeability influences antibiotic resistance.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt and Petra Levin
Guest: Mark O. Martin
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Faster Than Rocks!
TWiM explains a biological mechanism that links sulfur and iron cycling in anoxic environments, and "swashing," a form of surface movement in which bacteria migrate without active propulsion.
Hosts: Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin
Guest: Mark O. Martin
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Links for this episode
Sulfur and iron cycling in anoxic environments (Nature) Bacterial surface migration by swashing (J Bacteriol)Become a Patron of TWiM!
Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.
Send your microbiology...
Ant Yogurt and Fine Chocolate
TWiM reveals the bacteria, acids, and enzymes behind yogurt made with ants, and a defined set of microbes that reproduces attributes of fine flavor chocolate fermentation
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin
Guest: Mark O. Martin
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Making yogurt with ants (iScience)
The Alchemist Restaurant
Nucleotides to the Defense
TWiM explores two different ways that bacteria defend against phages through the synthesis of cyclic nucleotides.
Hosts: Michael Schmidt and Mark O. Martin
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Decoy cyclic nucleotides in phage defense (Nature)
CRISPR defense with nucleotides (Nature)
The Microbiome, Pancreatic Cancer, and Sleep Quality
TWiM explains studies that show that the oral bacterial and fungal microbiome are risk factors for pancreatic cancer, and the gut microbiome and pyruvate metabolism of older adults are a link between sleep quality and frailty.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
Oral microbiome and pancreatic cancer risk (JAMA O...Sea Star Wasting Disease
TWiM reveals a Vibrio as the causative agent of sea star wasting disease, and using microcolony-seq to uncover phenotypic inheritance from single cells.
Hosts: Michael Schmidt and Michele Swanson
Guest: Mark O. Martin
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Microbes in Trees and Plants
TWiM explores the varied and distinct microbiome of trees, and an array of biopesticidal metabolites against mosquito larvae isolated from a Mediterranean island.
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Missing the Company of Elio
TWiM pays tribute to Elio Schaechter, former TWiM host, blogger, and microbiologist extraordinaire, then reviews the finding that Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria - a form of competition.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson and Petra Levin.
Guest Mark O. Martin.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
Elio Schaechter (Wikipedia) Elio Schaechter Funeral Service (video) Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria (PLoS Biol) Take the TWiM L...Rewriting the Code of Life
TWiM discusses outbreak of Legionnaires disease in Harlem NY, an automated whole genome sequencing platform for bacterial strain typing in clinical microbiology laboratories, building E. coli with a 57-codon genetic code.
Links for this episode
Legionnaires' disease outbreak in NY (NY Health) Automated whole genome sequencing for clinical labs (J Clin Micro) Sequencing workflow for outbreaks (J Clin Micro) Rewriting code of life (NYTimes) E. coli with a 57-codon genetic code (Science) E. coli with one stop codon (TWiM 330)Become a patron of TWiM.
Music used on TWiM is...
Lifestyles of the Plasmids
TWiM explains a study that examines pathogen presence in ancient humans and concludes that zoonoses emerged 6500 years ago with the domestication of livestock, and determination of universal rules that govern plasmid copy number.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin
Guests: Mark O. Martin
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Human pathogens in ancient Eurasia (Nature)
What once
The Volatilome of Biofluids
TWiM explores the use of gas sensors and machine learning to identify microbes and antimicrobial resistance in clinical specimens, and how a harmful algal bloom species releases thiamin antivitamins to suppress competitors.
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Slip Slidin' Away
TWiM explains two strategies for bacterial competition for resources: by laying down a slippery lipid and pushing away competitors, or by breaking open cells with a spike, liberating essential nutrients.
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Fungal Smuggle
TWiM describes how microbiological analysis of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn has revealed an antimicrobial resistance reservoir and bioremediation potential, and fungicide resistance in Fusarium graminearum, the fungus recently smuggled into the US.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
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Microbiology of the Gowanus Canal (J. Appl. Micro) Microbes clean u...When Mutualists Murder
TWiM explains how a mutualistic model bacterium can become lethal in a non-symbiotic host, and engineering a kill switch into a tuberculosis vaccine for improved safety.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
When a mutualist becomes lethal (mBio) A lasting symbiosis (Nat Rev Micro) A kill switch...Fibromyalgia Pain and the Gut Microbiome
TWiM explains a study of the unique and extreme microbial and chemical environment on the International Space Station, and the connection between the gut microbiome and pain in fibromyalgia.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
ISS chemical and microbial environment (Cell) Gut microbiota and fibromyalgia pain (Neuron) Gut pain eases after doses of gut microbes (Nature) Skin innervation and fibromyalgia pain (Ann Neurol) Altered...Radar Love in Bacteria
TWiM describes isolation of a novel bacterial species isolated from the China Space Station, and how a chemical radar allows bacteria to detect and kill predators.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin.
Guest Mark O. Martin.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
Niallia tiangongensis from the China Space Station (Int J Syst Evol Biol) Bacterial chemical radar (Cell) Take the TWiM Listener survey!Send your microbiology questions a...
More mouth Microbiology
TWiM explains how to recode E. coli so it uses only one stop codon, and an exploration of the mechanisms of bacterial adhesion within dental plaque.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
Engineering E. coli with one stop codon (Nature) Bacterial adhesion in dental plaque (mBio) Microbial complexes in subgingival plaque (J Clin Periodontol) Bacterial clusters in periodontal and peri-implant diseases (Microorg...Bacteria Hunt With Grappling Hooks
TWiM explains Pasteur's relentless hunt for microbes in the air, and how bacteria hunt for prey by ixotrophy - using grappling hooks!
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
Pasteur's hunt for microbes in the air (NYTimes) Bacterial predation by ixotrophy (Science) Enter the pirates (STC) Take the TWiM Listener survey!Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to t...
Capturing Shigella With Filopodia
TWiM describes Shigella infection is facilitated by interaction of human enteric α-defensin 5 with a colonic epithelial receptor, and an amino acid change in RNA polymerase that leads to resistance to β-lactams by preventing dysregulation of amino acid and nucleotide metabolism
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.
Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Android, RSS, or by email.
Become a patron of TWiM.
Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
National Bl...Freezing and Anti-Freezing With Bacteria
TWiM explains the remarkable abilities of bacterial ice nucleating proteins to promote freezing of water, and cryoprotective proteins produced by worm microbiomes that prevent freezing.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
Links for this episode
Worm microbiomes produce crytoprotective proteins (Sci Adv) Biological antifreeze in Antarctic fishes (Sciece) Enhancement of bacterial ice nucleators (PNAS) Take the TWiM Listener survey!Send your microbiology questions and comments (e...
I Have One Word For You: PETase!
TWiM explores the discovery of microbial enzymes, PETases, that can degrade ubiquitous plastics, and how exogenous peptidoglycan is a danger signal to trigger biofilm formation.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson.
Guest Mark O. Martin.
Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Android, RSS, or by email.
Become a patron of TWiM.
Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.
