Small Things Considered

TWiM #73: Eyeing Root Nodule Development

Vincent, Michael, and Michele discuss how soil-dwelling bacteria induce the formation of root nodules on legumes via a protein called CYCLOPS... Read more →

A Failed Experiment

by Elio | In 1956 I joined Ole Maaløe’s laboratory in Copenhagen for a two year postdoc. We worked on the connection between the rate of growth of Salmonella and its macromolecular composition, arriving at the conclusion that there was indeed a simple linear correlation between the cells’ nucleic acid and protein content and how fast they were growing. In trying to interpret this, Ole was... Read more →

On Finding Jewels in the Junk

by Christoph Weigel | In prokaryotes, it only takes a small jazz band to get the music grooving: piano and a rhythm section suffice. The promoter region of a gene is a tiny stage on which RNA polymerase (p) and few transcription factors (dr, b) improvise on a tune, i.e. they initiate or skip transcription. By contrast, it takes a big band in eukaryotes to perform Duke Ellington's 'Caravan'. And since not all the musicians... Read more →

Good Old Days #3. Van Niel and Pacific Grove

by Bernard Strauss | In 1949, at the end of my second year at Caltech the faculty seems to have decided that I really needed to learn some biology. The method the Caltech faculty adopted was to send me to the summer course in microbiology given at the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University by Cornelis van Niel... Read more →

The Fungus That Killed Darwin’s Frog

by Gemma Reguera | In his second expedition to South America, Darwin discovered many new species of animals and plants. The field observations obtained throughout this 5-year expedition provided the intellectual framework for the maturation of his ideas on evolution. It also introduced the world to... Read more →

TWiM #72: The Benefits of Virulence

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele review how microbial virulence can be increased as a consequence of community surveillance and adaptation to macrophages... Read more →

A Few Internet Sites of Note

by Elio | Like other bloggers, I have a personal interest in visiting other blogs from time to time. I am glad to say that I am often surprised and pleased by the quality of offerings in the microbiological blogosphere. Here are a few of my favorite examples... Read more →

Death Toll to Persisters

by S. Marvin Friedman | The disconcerting ability of bacteria to evade death from treatment with antibiotics is achieved with two distinct strategies, resistance and tolerance. Resistance occurs by a variety of mechanisms, including drug efflux and/or preventing the drug from binding by modifying either the drug itself or its target. Tolerance, on the other hand… Read more →

Pictures Considered #13. How Many Things Can Be Illustrated In One Picture?

by Elio | This transmission EM of a thin section of a T2 phage infecting an E. coli cell was produced by Lee Simon in the late 1960’s. It is noteworthy for depicting a remarkably large number of properties of the phage and of the infection process. Can you figure out how many… Read more →

Adhering To The 'Replicon Model' The Sloppy Way

by Christoph Weigel | Sixty years ago Jacob, Brenner and Cuzin devised their 'Replicon Model', inspiring and useful guideline for replication research ever since. According to the model, a 'Replicon' is a genetic element replicated from a single 'Replicator'—replication origin, in modern terms—and replication is triggered by a positive trans-acting factor, the 'Initiator'… Read more →