Small Things Considered

A blog for sharing appreciation of the width and depth of microbes and microbial activities on this planet.

Small Things Considered
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Welcome to Small Things Considered (STC)! In this blog we share our excitement about unexpected and unusual stories of the microbial world. The "About" page describes who we are. But we do not just publish our own writing. We very much enjoy posting contributions from students, postdocs, and others. Don't think that we do this to avoid work, we spend a lot of time editing the material we receive. Do send us your comments, criticisms, submissions, ideas, or whatever else comes to you mind; we are very eager to hear from you. See the "Contact" tab for directions on how to reach us. Thank you for visiting and, before you go, consider taking a moment to "Subscribe."
  • Talmudic Question #207
  • Insect Symbiont–Host Balance
  • Gene Transfer Agents and Survival
  • E. coli aficionados, do your strains have the wild-type rpoS gene?
  • On Being 70
  • Phaeovirus
  • Thoughts on Lactate
  • [da capo] Of Terms in Biology: Neuston
  • Biocrusts

Talmudic Question #207

Talmudic Question #207 How come the smallest cells of a given bacterial species are also the ones with the slowest growth rate? Read more →

Posted on September 28, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Talmudic Questions | Permalink | Comments (0)

Insect Symbiont–Host Balance

by Mechas  
The diversity of life on earth is not only astounding but inundated with myriad expressions of host-symbiont relationships. Among these, microbial symbionts are so pervasive that they could be considered the rule, rather than the exception, among multicellular eukaryotes. Read more →

Posted on September 25, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Ecology, Evolution | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gene Transfer Agents and Survival

by Mechas  
We recently posted an update on horizontal gene transfer (HGT) to highlight the existence of strategies used by bacteria to exchange DNA – in addition to those traditionally acknowledged, that is transformation, transduction and conjugation. One of these more recently recognized mechanisms involves entities called gene transfer agents (GTAs). Read more →

Posted on September 21, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Ecology, Evolution | Permalink | Comments (0)

E. coli aficionados, do your strains have the wild-type rpoS gene?

by Roberto  
For many of you, the rpoS allele in your E. coli strains might not matter. But if you are interested in the general stress response or adaptations to stationary phase, you might want to know if you are starting out with a wild-type rpoS gene. Read more →

Posted on September 18, 2023 at 02:54 AM in Odds & Ends, Physiology & Genetics | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Being 70

by Roberto  
A little over fifteen years ago in the early days of STC, in a post Elio called "On Being 80," he celebrated his 80th birthday by sharing his life experience of melding his love of bacteria at the bench with his love of hunting mushrooms in the wild. Read more →

Posted on September 14, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phaeovirus

by Janie  
"Self" versus "other" delineations in biology are fascinating, from both a biological and conceptual standpoint. The example that probably leaps first into people's minds is the human microbiome: Read more →

Posted on September 11, 2023 at 12:30 AM in Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thoughts on Lactate

by Roberto  
In the past, when I thought about lactate (or lactic acid), two things immediately came to mind: the many ways lactic acid bacteria (LAB) furnish us with delicious, fermented foods and the grueling "lactate threshold" training sessions in preparing for endurance athletic events. Read more →

Posted on September 07, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

[da capo] Of Terms in Biology: Neuston

by Merry  
When I stumbled across the term bacterioneuston, I discovered a whole new world where the air meets the sea. I found that marine neuston had long been used to refer to the diverse flora and fauna inhabiting the topmost 5 cm of the oceans — a distinctly different assemblage than found in the waters below. Read more →

Posted on September 04, 2023 at 12:30 AM in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Biocrusts

by Mechas  
Have you ever heard of biocrusts? If not, you are not alone. I only stumbled upon this term recently and was surprised to find that it represents a growing field of research on what appear to be fragile, surface soil communities that are just the opposite. Biocrusts are incredibly resilient to inhospitable conditions. Read more →

Posted on August 31, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0)

Go FISHing to Image Bacterial Communities

by Davide Ciccarese  
Bacterial communities live in a small world where cells fill any available micron. Depending on their location and surrounding environment, they can readily respond to changes by gearing up their gene repertoire to insure their position in a densely packed biofilm. To be able to visualize this... Read more →

Posted on August 28, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Ecology, Methodology | Permalink | Comments (0)

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