Small Things Considered

How Do Tardigrades Withstand Drying?

by Elio | Recently, tardigrades or wa­ter bears made the news be­cause they had been loa­ded on a space cap­sule hea­ded for the moon. Alas, the space­craft crashed on its way down and the fate of the ti­ny pas­sen­gers is un­known. This gives us a rea­son for re­vi­si­ting these fas­ci­na­ting crea­tures and to bring the topic up to date. Read more →

Strictly Intracellular Parasite No More

by Elio | We learn with mother's milk (or at least in a beginning micro­bio­logy course) that certain bacteria, notably rickettsiae, chlamydiae, and anaplasmas, cannot grow outside of host cells. Thus, they are de­fined as being strictly intracellular parasites. Ha! A member of the ric­kettsiae has now been found to grow freely outside of host cells. Read more →

In and About Copenhagen

by Roberto | Not too many months ago Elio posted an engaging and very personal essay of his two years in Copenhagen. Those years spanned from 1956 to 1958, a mere 62 years ago, at a time when I was still in pre-school. While editing Elio's text, I was quite taken by his description of those days as "most likely the happiest of my life." Read more →

Making Memories with Pseudomonas aeruginosa

by Jade Thurnham | As an opportunistic pathogen, Pseudomonas aeru­ginosa lurks in wait of the perfect moment to make its move and be­come infectious in its host. Since it is so flexible in its choice of dwellings, P. aeruginosa is highly adaptive in its ability to couch surf among a wide range of hosts. But how does such an adaptation work and why is P. aeruginosa so good at it?  Read more →

Talmudic Question #168

Are there classes of genes that cannot be productively transmitted by phages (that is, cannot be transduced)?
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Discovering a Novel Algal-Fungal Symbiosis and a Humanized Journal

by Elio | Lichens are said to occupy an astounding 6% of the surface of Earth’s land mass, so pay attention. As you are well aware, lichens arise by the symbiotic interaction of fungi and algae (or sometimes cyanobacteria). And as you know, they consist of separate individuals of the two partners, each benefiting from the interaction. Read more →

A Wormful of Bugs, Again...

by Christoph | When you've followed our posts on symbioses between ani­mals and bac­te­ria over the last two years or so, you could have ea­si­ly got the im­pres­sion that they oc­cur main­ly be­tween in­sects and Gamma­pro­teo­bac­te­ria from the or­der En­te­ro­bac­te­ra­les of this large and di­verse phy­lum. This im­pression would be skewed but only because our choice of topics was! Read more →

A Microbial Liver

by Elio
Best I can tell, the marine flatworms Paracatenula suggest a novel twist on symbiosis. Here, symbiotic bacteria do not just provide carbon compounds for their host but actually store them. And they do that also for energy... Read more →

Pictures Considered #47: Phages in the Gardens

by Roberto | A few weeks ago, I found myself aimlessly exploring the garden of the Palace of Holyroodhouse (Edinburgh, Scotland), which has served as the principal residence of the Kings and Queens of Scots since the 16th century. Read more →

A Case for Colors

by Lizah van der Aart | Last year, Gilles van Wezel and Chang­sheng Wu an­noun­ced the dis­co­ve­ry of a com­pound with a com­ple­te­ly no­vel che­mi­cal back­bone, Lug­du­no­my­cin. This is an ex­cep­tio­nal feat as we hard­ly find com­pounds with com­ple­te­ly no­vel che­mi­cal struc­tures. This is even more in­cre­dible if you con­si­der how it was found. Bac­te­ria don't always... Read more →