by Janie | Some bacterial enzymes have interesting character arcs. DNA polymerase, courtesy of Thermus aquaticus, soaks up the limelight as an enzyme pulled out of bacteria and catapulted into molecular biology stardom. One enzyme that is certainly less-known is FbaB, which helps Streptococcus pyogenes adhere to and invade host cells... Read more →
The Streptococcal Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
by Janie | In Norse mythology, the goddess Freyja has a cloak of feathers that can ferry her between human and falcon forms. The Aztec deity Tezcatlipoca sometimes wore a jaguar skin to disguise himself. Sneaking into the ranks of such mythological figures is the more tangible and much smaller Group A Streptococcus... Read more →
Erisipelothrix rhusiopathiae on TV – A Snippet
by Elio | A recent episode of the British TV series 'Doc Martin' dealt with a somewhat unusual bacterium. Several children in the small town in Cornwall came down with what the good doctor thought was impetigo, a highly contagious skin infection caused by staph or strep. But the lab report... Read more →
A Change in the Plan of Construction
by Roberto | On occasion you might come across an odd-looking plant where the flower organ has been replaced by a leafy structure. To the amateur gardener this will seem a remarkable curiosity, to the professional plant grower it will signify substantial economic losses. To Johann Wolfgang von Goethe such sights meant the... Read more →
Family Feud: Commensal vs. Pathogenic Neisseria
by Camille Brzechffa | Although several current research endeavors developing preventative measures focus on vaccines for N. gonorrhoeae, few have examined how resident bacteria of the human body can combat its colonization. Read more →
Touch-Tone Transcription: A Pathogen's Sense of Touch
by Janie | In a world buzzing with sensory input of all stripes and colors, a bacterium isn't one to miss out on any of the latest surrounding scoop. The sense of touch is not ignored. Mechanical feedback influences how a bacterium might move or stay in place... Read more →
The COVID-19 Virus by the Numbers
by Elio | The trio of Yinon Bar-On, Rob Phillips, and Ron Milo, here augmented by Avi Flamholz, have done it again. In the past, they presented us the astounding numbers for the distribution of biomass on this planet, no less. We highlighted this seminal contribution to our understanding of the living world... Read more →
Of Terms in Biology: Cytokines
by Elio | Cytokines are small proteins (~5−20 kDa) that play a large role in our defenses against infection. They stimulate both the innate and the acquired immunity and coordinate the interplay between the two, thus can be properly called immunomodulators. There are lots of them, including interferons, interleukins, tumor necrosis factors, chemokines... Read more →
Virus. ...simply a piece of bad news wrapped up in protein, really ?
by Christoph | In my prior post, I answered the question "are viruses alive?" with a firm: no. That was the short answer, but there is also a long answer... and it's long because it's complicated. Read more →
Virus? ...simply a piece of bad news wrapped up in protein.
by Christoph | In the middle of the first major pandemic of my lifetime I feel the need, as a microbiologist, to make occasional contributions that may help individuals and society approach the pandemic in a reasonably informed way. Today, I'd like to contribute with a small dose of 'microbial literacy,' as called for by Ken Timmis and colleagues... Read more →