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 #204
  • TWiM 287: When Replicas Do Not Replicate
  • Honey Bee Social Immunity
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to... Flagellar Tips
  • Phage as Hitchhiker
  • Mycorrhizae and Land Plants – An Update
  • TWiM 286: Integrons and Invasion
  • The Chemical Ecology of Colibactin
  • Pictures Considered #59: Inside a Choanoflagellate

Talmudic Question #204


Mitochondria evolved from an ancestral alpha proteobacterium. However, present day mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNA) from plants and animals are very different. ... What different selective pressures might have led to these two vastly different evolutionary outcomes? Read more →

Posted on May 25, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Talmudic Questions | Permalink | Comments (0)

TWiM 287: When Replicas Do Not Replicate


TWiM investigates the high variability in the rate and amount of current production from microbial fuel cells, and how bacteria link their growth rate to external nutrient conditions via a protein that functions as a cellular rheostat. Read more →

Posted on May 25, 2023 at 01:29 AM in This Week in Microbiology | Permalink | Comments (0)

Honey Bee Social Immunity

by Roberto  
Flying insects are key to the functioning of many ecosystems, where they play numerous important roles such as pollination. Thus, the sharp decline in their numbers is cause for great concern. From a human perspective, the observed demise of many honey bee (Apis mellifera) populations is particularly troubling because of their critical role in the food chain. Read more →

Posted on May 22, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Ecology, Pathogens | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to... Flagellar Tips

by Christoph  
The same frontispiece twice within a few days at STC? No, not quite. It's not about Roberto's hitchhiking phage this time, or the flagellated bacterium, or the hitchhiking spore, but about the tip of the flagellum (black, left). Disclosure: already back in 2020, I talked with Alise, who created the image, and three other passionate science illustrators... Read more →

Posted on May 18, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Physiology & Genetics | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phage as Hitchhiker

by Roberto  
When I started graduate school at UCSD in the mid-1970s, I sometimes found myself hitchhiking at dawn along the Pacific Coast from Solana Beach to the lab. There were some wild rides! Which is probably why some years later, as they crossed my path, I was attracted both to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and (in biology) to the evolutionary and ecological concepts of hitchhiking. Read more →

Posted on May 15, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mycorrhizae and Land Plants – An Update

by Roberto  
I am fortunate that among the first impressions of my day, I take in this view of land plants. Given my proclivity for microbiology my mind inevitably wonders to what I cannot see, the underground network of filamentous fungi connecting the roots of those plants, the mycorrhizae. Read more →

Posted on May 11, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Evolution, Fungi, Symbioses | Permalink | Comments (0)

TWiM 286: Integrons and Invasion


TWiM investigates the high variability in the rate and amount of current production from microbial fuel cells, and how bacteria link their growth rate to external nutrient conditions via a protein that functions as a cellular rheostat. Read more →

Posted on May 11, 2023 at 01:29 AM in This Week in Microbiology | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Chemical Ecology of Colibactin

by Roberto   
Microbial genotoxic compounds – molecules that damage DNA – are found aplenty in nature. Doxorubicin and bleomycin come to mind; powerful DNA damaging agents developed as anti-cancer therapeutics but whose extreme toxicity is part of what makes some cancer chemotherapies arduous and risky. Read more →

Posted on May 08, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Ecology, Evolution, Physiology & Genetics | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pictures Considered #59: Inside a Choanoflagellate

by Roberto  
Choanoflagellates (endearingly referred to as "choanos") are the closest living relative of animals and as such they can provide insights into the evolution of animal multicellularity. Interestingly, at least two choano developmental features are induced by bacterial products. Read more →

Posted on May 04, 2023 at 01:31 AM in Ecology, Evolution | Permalink | Comments (0)

TWiM 285: How plague got deadly


TWiM reveals a new type of satellite virus that requires only phage tails for producing infectious virus particles, and that highly virulent plague bacteria differs from its innocuous enteric predecessor by its resistance to lysis by human complement. Read more →

Posted on May 04, 2023 at 01:29 AM in This Week in Microbiology | Permalink | Comments (0)

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