by Merry — Early in childhood, we learned that the plants and animals around us are discrete entities with definite boundaries. A dog might have fleas, but fleas and dogs are separate and distinct individuals. With our increased familiarity with symbioses – especially those of the obligate sort – have come many instances where... Read more →
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The Leopard and the Mouse: A Microbiologist's Take
by Fred Neidhardt — Nineteen-year-old photography student Casey Gutteridge captured this extraordinary scene at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire, UK. Casey, who was photographing the leopard Sheena for a course project, said: "I have no idea where the mouse came from — he just appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard". Read more →
Marine Archaea and the Nitrogen Cycle
by Douglas Bartlett — What is more stirring than to contemplate the cycles of matter in nature? We sense that we witness vital transactions of this planet’s metabolism, a fulfilling thought. Such matters speak particularly loudly to us microbiologists: not only do global fluxes concern the elements of life but are to a great extent driven by... Read more →
Genomic Secrets of Phytophtora infestans, the Master of Potato Blight
by Merry — More than 150 years after the historic Irish potato famine, the deadly pathogen responsible for potato blight, Phytophthora infestans, is now destroying more than $3 billion worth of potatoes each year. What is the secret of it's pathogenic success? Hoping to find some answers in its genome, a team of 96 researchers have sequenced virtually its entire 240 Mb genome. Read more →
A Mold That Changed the Course of History
by Mercè Piqueras — Recently, 'Nature' published an article about the genome sequence and analysis of Phytophthora infestans, the oomycete that caused the potato blight in the 19th century that changed the course of history. Phytophthora infestans is the reason that today about 11% of the population of the United States is of Irish origin and... Read more →
Five Questions About Oomycetes
by Elio — As you know, the potato blight caused widespread famine in potato-dependent, mid-19th century Ireland. You may also be aware of a current malady, sudden oak death, that affects large numbers of trees in the Pacific coastal states of the USA. And if you are involved in agriculture in any way, you have likely heard of... Read more →
Merry adds – Oomycete Mating Types and the Potato Blight
by Merry — One of the points that Elio mentioned above has taken on major real world significance of late. That concerns the ability of the sexual oospores to survive in the environment for periods of a year or more, whereas the wall-less asexual zoospores can survive only within host tissues. Read more →
Talmudic Question #55
The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology has never been seriously challenged. Here is your chance: can you conceive of a mechanism whereby genetic information can flow directly from proteins to nucleic acids? Read more →
The Limitations of LB Medium
by Hiroshi Nikaido — LB medium, also known incorrectly as Luria-Bertani medium, is widely used to grow bacterial cultures, mainly because it is easy to prepare and provides a broad base of nutrients. LB broth contains, per ml, 10 mg tryptone... Read more →
It Was The Worst of Times, It Was the Best of Times
by Elio — At the end of the Permian period, about 250 million years ago and not long before the dinosaurs appeared, life on Earth experienced its greatest catastrophe: a mass extinction that did away with the vast majority of life forms on land and sea. The question arises, who ate the carcasses of the deceased? Read more →