Small Things Considered

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. Read more →

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. Read more →

Molecular Fossils of Microbial Interactions

by Einat Segev  
Microbes have inhabited our planet for many millions of years. While thriving and dying in almost every niche on Earth, microbes leave behind relics, and some of these relics remain preserved in the geological record. Many cell components are rapidly degraded and do not persist but remains that do are like archives of ancient microbial life. Read more →

Luciferin in Scintillons at Sea

by Janie 
Summer through au­tumn is the time of year for ma­rine di­no­fla­gel­lates' famed light fes­ti­vals. If the con­di­tions are just right, the roll of an ocean wave or the push of a ka­yak paddle or the sway of your legs as you wade in deep­er is enough to set the wa­ters... Read more →

An antibiotic honeycomb

by Manuel Sánchez  
Atomic force mi­cros­co­py (AFM) is one of the most pow­er­ful tools in stu­dy­ing the sur­fac­es of any ma­ter­ial. So it should come as no sur­prise that it has been used in the stu­dy of vi­ral en­vel­op­es and bio­lo­gi­cal mem­branes. One of its great ad­van­tages... Read more →

Once more: I → Y → II ?

by Christoph
In part 1, I looked at Bi­fi­do­bac­ter­ium bi­fi­dum to see if the oc­ca­sion­al­ly ob­served Y-shape of these bac­ter­ia gives any hint on their mode of cell di­vis­ion ─ may­be long­i­tu­di­nal di­vi­sion? No, there is no tan­gible clue that they di­vi­de by split­ting their Y zip­per-like be­tween the "arms". Here now I ask the same... Read more →

I → Y → II ?

by Christoph
Don't worry, STC won't switch to cu­nei­form without warning. What va­gue­ly re­sem­bles a chemi­cal for­mu­la or a cu­nei­form text is meant to keep the title as short as pos­sible. More verbose: I will take a clos­er look at Y-shap­ed bac­te­r­ia to see if their "ir­re­gu­lar" shape points to their mode of cell di­vi­sion... Read more →

The Very Bacterial Caterpillar

by Jennifer Frazer
Glued to the in­side of your mouth this ve­ry mo­ment (there's a 50% chance) may be plump bac­te­ri­al ca­ter­pil­lars. They cling to your cheek with paired little hold­fasts, like the feet of a to­ma­to horn­worm re­so­lu­te­ly clasp­ing its stem. Of course, rather than to­ma­toes and to­ma­to leaves, the diet of... Read more →

In the Company of Bacteria: Amoebae

by Christoph  
In times long past, highly evolved eu­karyotes, for ex­ample bio­chemists, oc­ca­sio­nal­ly quip­ped that bac­ter­ia were noth­ing more than a bag of en­zymes. Well, from the per­spec­tive of bac­ter­ia, one could easi­ly re­turn the com­pli­ment: eu­kar­y­o­tes, for ex­ample single-cel­led amoe­bae, are little more than a... Read more →

Kitasatospora, a bacterium promoted to honorary amoeba

by Christoph  
A de­cade ago, Elio wound up a post on en­do­cy­to­sis by E. co­li with the bold re­mark: "If in­deed E. co­li is on­ly one pro­tein away from en­do­cy­to­sis, per­haps this work will com­pel us to cross en­do­cy­to­sis off the list of phy­sio­lo­gi­cal traits that are ex­clus­ive at­tri­bu­tes of the eu­kar­yo­tic cell plan." For sure, ex­pres­sing hu­man ca­veo­lin‑1 in E. co­li... Read more →