Small Things Considered

Bacterial Hopanoids – The Lipids That Last Forever

by Elio
The world of lipids does not always gets its due. Their oleaginous charm is not always appreciated, as we said before. For example, have you heard of hopanoids? They are made by some bacteria and are an unusual kind of polycyclic lipids that resemble steroids, but with an extra ring. Just like cholesterol in eukaryotic membranes, they insert... Read more →

Talmudic Question #113

Are there any niches in the human body where you might find bacteria carrying out autotrophic metabolism? Read more →

TWiM #87: Avogadro, Archaeal fossils, and ICAAC

Vincent, Elio, and Michael explore the fossilization of archaeal lipids, and highlight the recent ICAAC in Washington, D.C. Read more →

Shigella Steals Host Nutrients... Economically

by S. Marvin Friedman
Intracellular pathogens face many daunting problems, among them how to obtain enough energy and nutrients for active growth while, preferably, keeping the host cell alive for as long as possible. This issue is especially acute for pathogens that grow at a fast rate and reach large numbers. When they succeed… Read more →

TWiM #86: Blurring the Line Between Organelle and Endosymbiont

Vincent, Elio, Michael, and Michele consider whether our eating behavior is manipulated by gastrointestinal microbiota, and an aphid gene of bacterial origin whose gene product encodes a protein that is transported to an obligate endosymbiont. Read more →

Welcome to Autumn

by Elio
This blog is in its eighth year, a fairly long life as blogs go. We continue to enjoy sharing with you the excitement of unexpected and unusual stories of the microbial world. Not all of it is the latest. You may have noticed if you visit this site with some frequency… Read more →

Watching an Endosymbiont Becoming an Organelle?

by Elio
Ah, endosymbiosis and the origin of eukaryotic cells… Wasn't this one of the grandest of all the grand events in Biology? In its ability to boggle the mind, it comes in second only to the origin of life. This, one of the most decisive events in evolution, had a unique character. Instead of new traits being acquired gradually, a whole bunch of them were transferred at once to a willing recipient. A single step... Read more →

Of Terms in Biology: Metagenomic Binning

by Christoph Weigel
Summer's almost gone. Imagine you're strolling along the shores of a lake enjoying nature's colors during sunset. Sparkle catches your eyes where the lake languidly laps against the shore. You start pondering whether microbes — and if so which ones, and how many different — cause these glistening, somewhat slimy foam flakes at the shore. Sure enough, you take samples! Read more →

Five Questions about Filoviruses

by Jamie Henzy
The virus family Filoviridae is home to Ebola virus, as well as several other viruses that can cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates. Ebola virus is in the news because of the outbreak in Guinea that has spread to several neighboring African countries. The fatality rate of Ebola... Read more →

A Friend Turns 95 and Keeps Working in the Lab

by Elio Schaechter and Stanley Maloy
Abe Eisenstark is an old friend of both of us. Elio was a graduate student in the Midwest when he first met him. Abe was then a young faculty member at nearby university and was an inspiring mentor to whom Elio gravitated straightaway. The story is a bit different for Stanley… Read more →