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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →