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A blog for sharing appreciation of the width and depth of microbes and microbial activities on this planet.

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Spy Gadgets

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 →

Posted on October 22, 2020 at 01:00 AM in Pathogens, Physiology & Genetics | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on October 19, 2020 at 01:00 AM in Pathogens, Physiology & Genetics | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on September 17, 2020 at 01:32 AM in Pathogens | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on September 10, 2020 at 01:29 AM in Odds & Ends, Pathogens | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on August 24, 2020 at 04:00 AM in Pathogens, Teachers Corner | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on June 11, 2020 at 01:00 AM in Pathogens, Physiology & Genetics | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on June 01, 2020 at 12:22 AM in Pathogens, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on May 21, 2020 at 04:00 AM in Pathogens, Teachers Corner | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on May 18, 2020 at 01:30 AM in Pathogens, Teachers Corner, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on May 14, 2020 at 01:35 AM in Pathogens, Teachers Corner, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

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