Small Things Considered

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

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Safeguarding Beetle Development

by Mechas and Roberto  
This is the story of how pursuing a century-old observation led to the recent discovery the chemical ecology involved in protecting a beetle from fungal infection during larval molting. It shall come as no surprise that we would be thrilled by such a story; throughout the lifetime of the blog, we've had posts on insect-microbe symbioses... Read more →

Posted on January 30, 2023 at 12:30 AM in Ecology, Symbioses | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on October 24, 2022 at 01:30 AM in Ecology, Pathogens, Physiology & Genetics, Protists, Symbioses, Teachers Corner | Permalink | Comments (0)

Green Sloths and Robots

by Roberto
... in the case of red par­rot feath­ers the pig­ment has the ad­ded be­ne­fit of pro­tect­ing the plu­mage from bac­te­ri­al de­gra­da­tion. To­day I stay on the to­pic of ani­mal co­lor­a­tion by de­scrib­ing the pe­culi­ar pe­lage pig­ment of sloths. Exact­ly what con­sti­tutes an eye-catch­ing color is, of course, in the eye of the be­holder. Read more →

Posted on August 15, 2022 at 01:30 AM in Ecology, Evolution, Symbioses | Permalink | Comments (0)

How to Be a Lichen

by Nastassja Noell  
Lichens are symbiotic or­gan­isms – al­gae, fun­gi, cy­ano­bac­te­ria, bac­te­ria and yeasts – that form mi­nia­ture eco­sys­tems that you can hold in the palm of your hand. They live on trees and rocks through­out the South­ern Ap­pa­lach­ians, and are also found in the Arc­tic, the An­tarc­tic, rain­forests, al­pine tun­dra and es­pe­cial­ly in the de­sert. Read more →

Posted on June 05, 2022 at 05:10 PM in Fungi, Symbioses | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on April 04, 2022 at 01:30 AM in Evolution, Physiology & Genetics, Symbioses | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 →

Posted on March 28, 2022 at 01:30 AM in Evolution, Physiology & Genetics, Symbioses | Permalink | Comments (0)

Small RNAs Considered

by Janie  
With the discovery of the trp attenuator in the 1970s, followed shortly by the ColE1 plasmid RNA I, RNA became a much more interesting personality. The biomolecule wears far more hats than mRNA, rRNA, and tRNA. In all its multitudes, RNA seems to boast an infinite functional repertoire... Read more →

Posted on October 25, 2021 at 01:00 AM in Physiology & Genetics, Symbioses | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Paramecium, a Purple Bacterium, and a Green Alga Walk into a Bar…

by Janie  
"Three to tango" makes yet another appearance in endosymbioses, this time in the form of a purple-green ciliate that is home to both purple bacteria and green algae. At first glance, this seems like a paradox... Read more →

Posted on August 16, 2021 at 01:00 AM in Physiology & Genetics, Symbioses | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bacterial Symbionts Halt The Disease Burden of Dengue Virus

by Rupinder Kaur, Sarah R. Bordenstein, and Seth R. Bordenstein  
Amidst a global surge and focus on COVID-19 infections, other diseases that have had and will continue to have impact on hu­man health cannot be forgotten. Dengue, for example, continues to be a major mosquito-borne viral infection, impacting more than 100 million people per year. Dengue can inflict... Read more →

Posted on July 05, 2021 at 01:30 AM in Pathogens, Symbioses, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Bacterial Symbionts of the Giant Tube Worms Are Varied In Shape and Function

by Elio  
Some thirty years ago it was my good fortune to sit in an air­plane next to the famed marine micro­biologist, the late Holger Jannasch, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He shared with me stories of his deep-sea explor­ations, especially his voyages in the sub­mersible Alvin. These included visits to the recently discovered deep sea hydro­thermal vents... Read more →

Posted on February 08, 2021 at 01:00 AM in Symbioses | Permalink | Comments (0)

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