Small Things Considered

Talmudic Question #53A

by Elio  
In recent years, the use of radioactive isotopes has diminished considerably in microbiological research. What has been lost in the process? A Comment. Read more →

The Three Stages of My Experience in Discovering the Mode of Action of Penicillin

by Ted Park  
The scene opens in 1943. I was a graduate student in fermentation biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. As this was at the height of World War II, most research projects were war-related. My first assignment was no different: to identify mutants of Aerobacter aerogenes that produced improved yields of 2,3-butylene glycol (2,3-butanediol), a potential candidate... Read more →

Good Guys, Bad Guys

by Merry Youle  
Because it prefers to dine on some of our valued crop plants, the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) is considered a major pest — thus a Bad Guy from our perspective. Pea aphids are not without their enemies. Enemy number one is a parasitoid wasp, Aphidius ervi. As parasitoid wasps are used to do, females provide for their offspring by... Read more →

Fine Reading: The Good-Enough Clockus of Prochlorococcus

by Elio  
The very first post on this blog was about the circadian rhythm of cyanobacteria. They turn their photosynthetic apparatus on and off to match the daily course of light and dark. This is a true clock-driven circadian rhythm because it manifests whether or not the light is on or off, thus is not just a response to a stimulus. Read more →

Exciting Resolution

by Jennifer Gutierrez  
Fluorescence microscopy of bacteria has long been a challenge due to the size of the organisms and the diffraction limit of visible-light microscopy. Although much valuable data has been collected by refining optical systems, automating microscopy setups, and using... Read more →

Mycodiesel

by Elio  
Huge amounts of money and effort are going into making automotive fuels using biological processes, but a fully satisfactory answer is not yet at hand. Well, fungi may come to the rescue. Strobel et al. found that a fungus called Gliocladium roseum actually makes a complex mixture of volatile hydrocarbons and derivatives that resemble those found in diesel fuels. Not only that, this fungus... Read more →

Fungal Stars in the Forest Dark

by Elio  
Fungi, along with selected bacteria and invertebrates, are included in the list of bioluminescent organisms. These fungi are pretty unique because, unlike the other light-emitting organisms, fungi don't walk, swim, or fly. Thus, the usual explanations for bioluminescence... Read more →

A Thing of Beauty

by Elio  
We can attest to these truths through a lone piece of amber. Between 50 and 35 million years ago, a springtail (Collembola) got stuck in some resin, probably from a conifer. Before it could free itself, more resin dripped on it, eventually entombing it completely. In time, the resin became amber, but before that happened, a fungus grew... Read more →

Myco-kleptomaniacs

by Elio  
Anyone who has gone out hunting for wild mushrooms and came back with a nearly empty basket has been tempted to "borrow" specimens from someone more lucky. This cardinal sin now has a name: mycoklepty. Stealing fungi is not limited to humans. Beetles do it too. Read more →

Fine Reading: The Biocentric View of the Microbial World

by Elio  
Anthropocentric: 1. considering human beings as the most significant entity of the universe. 2. interpreting or regarding the world in terms of human values and experiences. How does anthropocentrism apply to microbiologists? In a current commentary in the new journal Gut Pathogens, Ramy Aziz reminds us that it... Read more →