Small Things Considered

Magnificently long : Thiomargarita magnifica

by Christoph
Microbiologists study mi­crobes with mi­cro­scopes be­cause they are not vis­ible to the na­ked eye. Un­less they are. This was ex­act­ly the case for "Can­di­da­tus Thio­mar­ga­ri­ta mag­ni­fi­ca", de­scribed in a re­cent Bio­Rχiv pre­print by Vol­lard et al. (2022): "A cen­ti­me­ter-long bac­te­ri­um with DNA com­part..." (more about the se­cond part of the title... Read more →

Nailing the twists of a twisted nails puzzle, part 2|2

by Christoph
I had almost solved the twisted nails puzzle in the first part. I had untwisted the function of the first nail, spot 42 RNA, as well as the function of the second nail, the open reading frame contained within this 'dual‑function RNA' that is translated as the SpfP protein. Here now are two more twists… Read more →

Nailing the twists of a twisted nails puzzle, part 1|2

by Christoph
I recently mentioned in passing that "...one is poking a wasps' nest when studying cAMP·CRP re­gu­lat­ed genes." Are you ready to do some poking with me? Well, in a back corner of said wasp's nest lies a twisted nails puzzle, the solution to which I will reveal here. You would be right... Read more →

Fine Reading: A Brief History of Plasmids

by Roberto
That plasmids are autonomous replicating elements and that they can serve as excellent cloning vectors are facts most certainly well-known to STC readers. However, I venture to guess that the same cannot be said about the historical details of the when, how, and why... Read more →

How to Fine-Tune a Riboswitch

by Janie
It has the inklings of a lame biology joke, but in actuality has profound implications among microbial communities: What's the similarity between male moths and RNA? The answer is the ability to detect extremely specific compounds. Like male moths that can detect a single pheromone molecule... Read more →

In one step from commensal to mutualist (almost), part 2|2

by Christoph
I had concluded the first part by say­ing that I would now dis­cuss what mu­ta­tions Ko­ga et al. (2022) found in two mu­ta­tor E. coli line­ages that al­lowed the bac­te­ria to suc­cess­ful­ly "take over" from Pan­toea sp. as sym­bionts in Plau­tia sta­li stink­bugs (termed "im­prov­ed" line­ages.) Here we go... Read more →

In one step from commensal to mutualist (almost), part 1|2

by Christoph
It is as true as it is, well, bor­ing to keep say­ing that Esch­eri­chia co­li is the best un­der­stood uni­cel­lu­lar or­gan­ism, and the most-stud­ied with ~41,000 tag­ged en­tries in Pub­Med since 1932. But then, every five years or so, comes a sur­prise of what un­ex­pec­ted feats this un­as­sum­ing bac­te­ri­um is cap­able of. Read more →

Diazomania III ─ Nitrous Oxide, Please Don't Laugh About It

by Roberto
If you bike a lot, particularly if you race, you learn to always carry along a spare in­ner tube and a CO₂ can­is­ter to help you ra­pid­ly change a flat. So, when I start­ed no­tic­ing emp­ty gas can­ist­ers while rid­ing along a few of the ubi­quit­ous Co­pen­ha­gen bike lanes, the first thing... Read more →

When it's too cold to grow

by Roberto
I began thinking about the cold weather in Bos­ton while I swam in an open wa­ter com­pe­ti­tion off the coast of Car­ta­ge­na de In­dias in Co­lom­bia's Carib­bean coast last week­end. Then my thoughts drift­ed to bac­te­ria swim­ming in col­der and col­der wa­ters. And then the ques­tion: ... Read more →

A New Model for the Formation of an Endodontic Biofilm

by Elio and Roberto | As we speak, biofilms are the rage in microbiology. And why not, being that most bacteria in nature are not free-swimming but are attached to some surface. Model systems for biofilms are therefore sorely needed. Researchers from two institutions in Bogotá, Colombia... Read more →