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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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Phages Unleashed: The Heist of CRISPR Repeats

by Sarah Camara-Wilpert and David Mayo-Muñoz — Bacteria, just like humans, are frequently infected by viruses (bacteriophages or phages). Phages replicate at the expense of their hosts, killing them and the process releases hundreds of progeny into the environment to complete their life cycle. The end of bacteria? Not so fast! Read more →

Posted on November 13, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Physiology & Genetics, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fine Reading: Lessons from the COVID Pandemic

by Roberto — For many, the horrors lived through the pandemic are now receding memories. From a more objective perspective, we can now begin to ponder some key questions. What did each one of us learn from the experience? What should we have known from the start of the pandemic? Read more →

Posted on October 12, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Ecology, Evolution, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phaeovirus

by Janie — "Self" versus "other" delineations in biology are fascinating, from both a biological and conceptual standpoint. The example that probably leaps first into people's minds is the human microbiome: Read more →

Posted on September 11, 2023 at 12:30 AM in Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Who-Ate-Whom of Terms in Biology: Virovory

by Christoph — Like with the cus­to­ma­ry New Year's Eve fire­works, eve­ry year we bio­lo­gists are blessed with hi­ther­to un­known or lar­ge­ly un­com­mon sci­en­ti­fic terms. Some stick, others blaze away like said fire­works. How would you guess the term "vi­ro­vo­ry," which was ad­ded to Wi­ki­pe­dia on 29 Decem­ber 2022, will fare? Read more →

Posted on January 16, 2023 at 01:30 AM in Ecology, Protists, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

Giant Soil Viruses

by Abigail Curtis — My first niche microbiological interest came freshman year of high school, when I discovered that viruses don't solely infect animals. Indeed, viruses are pervasive in every ecosystem, including the smallest ones in the ground. The aspect of viruses in microbial ecosystems... Read more →

Posted on August 01, 2022 at 01:00 AM in Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

Retrons Resolved

by Mechas Zambrano — Just like solving a crossword puzzle or a sudoku, it is also greatly gratifying when apparently obscure scientific obser­vations are figured out. There are many examples in microbiology of observations that, though they hint at some biological... Read more →

Posted on July 04, 2022 at 01:00 AM in Physiology & Genetics, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

Of Terms in Biology: The Polony Method

by Christoph — If there is one venerable la­bo­ra­to­ry tech­nique in vi­ro­lo­gy, it is the plaque assay for the de­tect­ion and quan­ti­fi­ca­tion of bac­te­rio­pha­ges. It was pio­neer­ed by Fe­lix d'He­rel­le al­ready around 1917, and in the ear­ly 1950s, plaque as­says were also es­tab­lish­ed for eu­kar­yot­ic vi­rus­es... Read more →

Posted on January 10, 2022 at 01:30 AM in Methodology, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Most Lively Virus – and an Addendum

by Merry (†) and the STC team — Mor­pho­lo­gi­cal­ly speak­ing, the vi­rus­es of me­so­phi­lic and mo­de­ra­te­ly ther­mo­phi­lic bac­te­ria and ar­chaea are a dull bunch. Of 5,100 surveyed, 97% are ho-hum head-and-tail phages − icosahedral heads with helical tails... Read more →

Posted on November 08, 2021 at 01:30 AM in Teachers Corner, Viruses | 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)

A Losing Battle

by Elio — Relatively few people are aware the virus that causes Covid19 has its own name, to wit, SARS-CoV-2. Outside the scientific literature, this is seldom used. Yet, almost everyone is aware that the AIDS virus is called HIV. But this is exceptional. The overwhelming number of people call a virus after the disease... Read more →

Posted on April 22, 2021 at 03:00 AM in Odds & Ends, Viruses | Permalink | Comments (0)

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