Small Things Considered

Pictures Considered #62 : A New Twist on Satellite Phages

by Roberto  
In the phage universe, there are many examples of so-called satellite phages (or satellite phage-like elements) whose propagation depends on helper phages. Outside the bacterial cell these satellites look like phages, but... Read more →

Talmudic Question #209

Talmudic Question #209
What general rules do you see emerging from the ongoing studies of microbial communities that will inform our understanding of their function? Read more →

Kool & The Gang − Celebration

by Christoph  
Other than the title Kool & The Gang − Cele­bra­tion sug­gests, this post is not about the R&B band of past glories and their big­gest hit, but in­stead ce­le­brates the true "cool kids", mush­rooms − bio­lo­gi­cal­ly cor­rect fun­gi − and their "hy­po­ther­mic nature", stu­died by Cor­de­ro et al. (2023). Read more →

A Whiff of Taxonomy – Among Vampires

by Christoph  
Elio wrote A table for Two many years ago, about the sur­pris­ing ob­ser­va­tion that the Gram‑ne­ga­tive bac­terium Vib­rio vul­ni­fi­cus can be preyed upon si­mul­tan­eous­ly by a bac­terio­phage and a "bac­terio­vor­ous" bac­ter­ium. He could not have figured that the single image in his piece is a per­fect vig­net­te for the great­ly in­creased in­terest... Read more →

Le bal des vampires

by Christoph  
To­day for a change a mo­vie re­view : The re­make of the 1967 clas­sic Le bal des vam­pires by Ro­man Po­lanski. ... They had cast­ed Caulo­bac­ter cres­centus as the inn­keeper's pretty daugh­ter Sarah, and as the vil­lain Count von Kro­lock none other than Bdello­vibrio exo­vorus (no, not the better known Bdello­vibrio bac­terio­vorus). Read more →

Contamination in Microbiology

by Mechas  
Anyone who has worked in a microbiology lab can empathize with the anguish of having a contaminant ruin your experiment. In many cases, such as in clinical laboratories or in the food industry, contaminants can prove devastating and challenging to control. When dealing with environmental samples, on the other hand, contaminants are the norm. Read more →

Phages Unleashed: The Heist of CRISPR Repeats

by Sarah Camara-Wilpert and David Mayo-Muñoz  
Bacteria, just like humans, are frequently infected by viruses (bacteriophages or phages). Phages replicate at the expense of their hosts, killing them and the process releases hundreds of progeny into the environment to complete their life cycle. The end of bacteria? Not so fast! Read more →

Andrew Wright (1935−2023)

by Roberto  
This past October 9th, microbiology lost an extraordinary member when Andrew Wright died. Those of us fortunate to have interacted with him over the years lost a very good friend. Even on a first meeting it was impossible not to sense his kindness and genuine interest in the conversation, underscored by his gentle smile and an endearing Scottish accent. Read more →

Chemotaxis Praxis

by Janie  
In storytelling, there is a famous principle called Chekhov's gun. "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise, don't put it there." This pithy (and very debatable) directive, attributed to the eponymous playwright, smells a whole lot like the (similarly very debatable) viewpoint of adaptationism... Read more →

How many bacterial pathogens infect humans?

by Roberto  
In casual conversations I used to say that the number of bacteria causing human disease was small, a few dozen, perhaps around 100. Was I wrong! A paper by Bartlett et al. (2022) puts the number at 1513 and growing rapidly... Read more →