by Mechas
Microbes never cease to surprise, as should be evident to long-time STC readers. Now we are presented with a novel mechanism that allows archaea to expand their gene content and metabolic capacity. This unforeseen discovery also illustrates the importance not only of having the right tools (and funding) but also of being prepared to find the unexpected.
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Borgs in Archaea
Talmudic Question #202
Why do bacteria – think Agrobacterium, Streptomyces, Borrelia among others – not care at all if they have linear and circular chromosomes and episomes (plasmids, prophages) side-by-side in one cell?
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In Pieces: The Segmented Genome
by Janie
"Segmented genome" is a term I had only heard applied to viruses until recently. It refers to genomes that consist of two or more molecules, a characteristic that grants an evolutionary advantage: when multiple viruses infect the same unfortunate cell, these different fragments can be mixed and matched to generate new, reassorted genomes.
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Macrolides from Mollusks, Not Microbes?
by Janie
Last year, we covered the microbiological implications of feather pigments in parrots, touching on an unexpected polyketide synthase (PKS) active in an animal rather than a microbe or plant. Now, a redux of animal polyketides! This episode of molecules from unexpected places takes place undersea, starring the clam.
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On the Source of the Black Death
by Roberto
Yersinia pestis. How immediate our reaction can be to the species name of this bacterium, making us conjure up images of pestilence. As its discoverer, Alexander Yersin, wrote in 1894 of an outbreak of bubonic plague in Hong Kong, this is the "bacille de la peste." (Working independently, Kitasato Shibasaburo also characterized the plague bacterium at nearly the exact same time.)
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Fine Reading: The Life and Times of Paul Buchner
by Roberto
In preparing our recent post on ectosymbionts, I discovered Jan Sapp's 2002 perspective: "Paul Buchner (1886 –1978) and hereditary symbiosis in insects." I suspect that many STC readers will immediately recognize the name of Paul Buchner, after whom Paul Baumann named the now well-known aphid endosymbiont Buchnera. But I also suspect most will not know too much about Buchner's seminal contributions...
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It Takes tRNAs to Tango: How Phages Outsmart Their Hosts
by Rafael Pinilla-Redondo
Have you ever wondered what goes on inside a bacterium when it's attacked by a phage? Imagine an epic battle between two armies, like in "The Lord of the Rings" but seen through a microscope. On the one hand, valiant phages try to assault, replicate, and spread to neighboring cells; and on the other, host defenses strive to thwart and contain the tiny invaders.
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Infectious Enthusiasm for Preserving Our Microbes
by Mechas and Roberto
When it comes to microbes, the public still perceives them largely as the cause of infections. This worldview goes back to the latter half of the nineteenth century with the seminal findings of Pasteur and Koch. During the past few decades this predominant view changed towards a recognition of microbes' largely beneficial roles, but the pandemic appears to have slowed down this learning process.
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