Small Things Considered

Talmudic Question #41

Bacteria are prey to bacteriophages, other bacteria, protists, and fungi. Can you think of a mechanism that all these predators may have in common? Read more →

The User's Guide to Poly-γ-Glutamates

by Elio  
We all carry a box in our head where we deposit intriguing facts that don't seem to connect to anything else. Sooner or later, such cached bits of information emerge and find their place in the scheme of things, just like wandering souls in Purgatory that finally ascend to Heaven. Some do it with a bang... Read more →

Fine Reading: The Origins of Multicellularity

by Elio  
We lovers of microbes delight in the complexity of multicellular bacteria such as the actinomycetes, the myxobacteria, and some cyanobacteria. But, how often do we stop and think about how eukaryotes became multicellular and how the likes of us came about? To remedy this state of affairs, we suggest a very fine review on the origin of multicellularity... Read more →

The More the Merrier

by Elio  
Something there is that likes to mull over symbioses. Indeed, what is more enjoyable to contemplate than the relationship between two organisms? The answer? One that involves three, or four, or even more. Not that this is unusual, just that it's always exciting. Here are two examples. Read more →

The Teachers’ Corner

by Elio  
We would dearly love to see material from this blog used extensively for teaching purposes. We are aware some of you have assigned blog articles for “intellectual enrichment,” for student discussions and presentations, or as suggested topics for term papers. But we hope that you (those teachers reading this) will make still greater use of... Read more →

Equatorial Epidemiology

by Elio  
Every two years, the Latin American Microbiology Congress convenes, each time hosted by a different country. I was invited to participate in this year's gathering held in Quito, Ecuador. Having spent my youth there as a refugee during World War II, I have a special affinity for that beautiful city and... Read more →

Jumping Genes, Wolbachia Style

by Merry and Elio  
Organelles were endosymbionts that either made good or were enslaved, depending on your point of view. Either way, some of their genes now reside in the nuclear genome of their eukaryote host. We also know that there are some bacterial endosymbionts living today within multicellular eukaryotes. Can their genes also... Read more →

Talmudic Question #40

by Richard Moxon
Can you think of any human disease that does not have a possible microbial component? Read more →

Big Game Hunting, Bacterial Style

by Merry  
When it comes to putting food on the table, heterotrophic marine bacteria have at least two options. They can partake of the dissolved organic material in the oceans, a dilute soup including phage-induced bacterial lysate and the photosynthate leaked from phytoplankton and algae. Or they can... Read more →