Small Things Considered

Fine Reading: Unearthing the Roots ofEctomycorrhizal Symbioses

by Elio | This is a primer on the mycorrhizae, the association of plant roots and fungi. An outstanding review article on this subject has recently appeared, authored by four Frenchmen and one American: F. Martin, A. Kohler, C. Murat, C. Veneault-Fourrey, and D. S. Hibbett. I found reading it both exciting and illuminating, and a good way to conclude this »Fungomania« series. Read more →

Sex and the Single Pillbug

by Elio | You may not think of sex as having a microbial basis, but it does. That is true for many invertebrates that are colonized by the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia. Members of this genus are pro­bably the most common obligate intracellular bacteria on Earth and, for reasons discussed below, among the most remarkable ones. They infect half or more of all insects, as well as isopods (crustaceans), spi­ders, and even worms. In some of their hosts, they influence how sex is determined, making sex itself a sexually-transmitted affair. Read more →

Squids and Luminous Bacteria. A Tale of Twists and Turns

by Elio | Bacteria are masters at making multiple uses of their com­po­nents. Thus, their constituents can serve a variety of dissimilar func­tions. An example is the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of the Gram negative cell outer membrane. This uniquely bacterial constituent is important stabilizing the structure of the membrane. In addition, LPS protects... Read more →

A Symbiotic Issue

by Elio | The August 2016 issue of Environmental Microbiology is a treasure trove of articles on symbiotic relationships. I happen to have a soft spot for the subject (am I symbiotic with symbioses?), so this issue is a handsome gift. I will comment on just a few of the articles, chosen with some effort from all this wealth. Read more →

Picky Sticks

by Christoph Weigel | As we know from our herbivorous mammalian relatives, the ruminants, you need to host certain microbes in your guts to subsist on plant polysaccharides other than starch – think salad or grass. Such 'non-starch' polysaccharides include cellulose, pectin, and a few others – together, they are commonly known as 'fibers'. Fibers are, for the most part, indigestible... Read more →

Black Death for Corals:The Polymicrobial Pathogenesis of Black Band Disease

by Daniel P. Haeusser | This June Disney released the anticipated Pixar Animation Studios sequel Finding Dory to earn the largest animated film opening receipts in North America ever. The popularity of the original Finding Nemo in 2003 led to reportedly increased demand for clownfish like Nemo for pets; some concerned environmentalists worry that... Read more →

Catch as Catch Can

by Elio | The much admired late marine microbiologist Ralph Lewin coined the term "ixotrophy" to describe how certain bacteria catch their prey by having a sticky surface. (Iχo- is derived from the Greek for "sticky" and iχos means birdlime, the name of the gluey stuff used for trapping birds). Many readers, at least the older ones, will be reminded of flypaper. Read more →

Bottoms up: Nefarious Nematodes and Red Rumps

by Michael Haar | Deep in the Amazon, a super­villain of mi­cro­sco­pic pro­por­tions strikes fear into the ganglion of honest tree-dwelling ants in every canopy. Myr­me­co­ne­ma neo­tro­pi­cum is a pa­ra­si­tic ne­ma­tode, one of the count­less species in the phylum Ne­ma­to­da that exist in nearly every lo­cation on Earth. For many, pa­ra­si­tism is a topic that can... Read more →

Symbiont Exchange in the Aphid·Buchnera Symbiosis, Part 2.

by Christoph Weigel | What's possible in the wild – symbiont exchange, see last week's Part 1. – should also be possible to achieve in the lab. Less for competing with nature's ingenuity but more with the aim to study the separate contributions of symbiotic partners, of course. So, after being successful earlier in transferring secondary, facultative endosymbionts between aphid hosts, the Moran lab developed... Read more →

Symbiont Exchange in the Aphid·Buchnera Symbiosis, Part 1.

by Christoph Weigel | For evolutionary biologists, the aphid·Buchnera symbiosis is a favorite model to study 'or­ga­nel­lo­ge­ne­sis', how a once free-living gammaproteobacterium became an obligatory endosymbiont of its aphid host – now its buddy rather – over the course of >200 Ma (million years) of co-evolution. Todays... Read more →