TWiM #120: Snakes in trouble

TWiM reviews the ongoing cholera outbreak in Africa, and research showing that gut complement induced by the microbiota blocks pathogens and spares commensal bacteria.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

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Links for this episode

• Cholera in Southern Africa (Africa CDC)
• Deadly cholera outbreak in Africa (NY Times)
• Pediatric cholera in sub-Saharan Africa (Curr Op Ped)
• Gut complement spares commensals (Cell)
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TWiM reveals a new population in the blue cheese-making fungus Penicillium roqueforti and identification of a quorum-sensing autoinducer and siderophore in uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

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Links for this episode

• New blue cheese-making fungus (Evol Appl)
• Threat to Camenbert cheese (Guardian)
• French Cheese Under Threat (CNRS News)
• Fungadapt project (YouTube)
• Microbes Make the Cheese (ASM)
• Yersiniabactin in uropathogenic Escherichia coli (mBio)
• Public goods and cheating in microbes (Curr Biol)
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TWiM reveals a database of genome sequences of thousands of Mycobaterium tuberculosis, allowing association with resistance phenotypes to 13 antibiotics, and microbe-derived uremic solutes that enhance thrombosis potential in the host.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson.

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Links for this episode

• M. tuberculosis genomes and antimicrobial resistance (PLoS Biol)
• The CRyPTIC consortium
• BashTheBug
• Zooniverse
• Microbial solutes enhance thrombosis (mBio)
• Can our microbiome break our heart? (mBio)
• Pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (EJIFCC)
• How Kidneys Work Video (Mayo Clinic)
• What is a metaorganism? (Zoology)
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TWiM describes the mechanism for the S. aureus itch and scratch induced skin damage, and discovery of a novel class of antibiotics that targets the lipopolysaccharide transporter.

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Links:

• S. aureus drives itch and scratch behavior (Cell)

• Staph scratches its itch (Cell)

• A new class of antibiotics (Nature)

• A new type of antibiotic (Nature)

• Novel antibiotic targets LPS transporter (Nature)

• New antibiotic traps LPS (Nature)

• Macrocyclic peptide drugs (Science)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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A highly reduced TWiM team presents a study of the use of phage diversity in cell-free DNA to identify bacterial pathogens in human sepsis cases, and the evolution, persistence, and host adaptation of a gonococcal antimicrobial resistance plasmid that emerged in the pre-antibiotic era.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Petra Levin

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Links for this episode

• Phages identify sepsis pathogens (Nat Micro)
• Gonococcal AMR plasmid from pre-antibiotic era (PLoS Genetics)
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Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to twim@microbe.tv

On the occasion of TWiM’s 300th episode, we discuss how two college students found a new antibiotic in soil, Barbara Iglewski’s passing, and Elio returns for an appearance.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

Guest: Elio Schaechter

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Links for this episode

• Barbara Iglewski dies
• Antimicrobial activity of P. nicotinovorans (MicroPubl Biol)
• 2 NWTC students found a new antibiotic in soil (Green Bay Press Gazette)
• ESKAPE bacteria group (Clover)
• Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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From ASM’s Conference for Undergraduate Educators 2023 in Phoenix, TWiM speaks with Amaya Garcia Costas and Gwendolyn Knapp about their approaches to undergraduate microbiology education, and how they use TWiM as part of their curricula.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

Guest: Amaya Garcia Costas and Gwendolyn Knapp.

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Links for this episode

• ASMCUE 2023
• Teaching in the time of COVID-19 (J Microbiol Biol Edu)
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TWiM provides thoughts on providing better training for a non-academic career, and help celebrate Black in Microbiology Week with a 2023 paper by Ari Kozik, a co-founder of Black Microbiologists Association and Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, Petra Levin,

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Links for this episode

• Better training for a non-academic career (Nat Micro)
• Nature career site
• ASM career site
• Prosper - Unlocking postdoc career potential
• Airway microbiota in obesity and asthma (J Allerg Clin Immunol)
• A vision for human microbiome research (mSphere)
• Microbes in Models (ASM)
• Climate change and microbes (ASM)
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TWiM reviews how a coating of lipoproteins provides a stabilizing environment on the inner membrane of Bacillus subtilis spores, and a miniaturized device that integrates genetically engineered probiotic biosensors with a custom-designed photodetector and readout chip to track mediators of inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin,

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Links for this episode

• Lipoproteins stabilize germination apparatus (J Bacteriol)
• A coating of liposomes (J Bacteriol)
• Biosensor to detect inflammatory molecules in the gut (Nature)
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TWiM discusses a dispute about whether the mycobiome plays a role in the development of cancer, and the structure and function of channels that are delivered to plant cells by pathogenic bacteria.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, and Michael Schmidt.

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Links for this episode

• Cancer microbes disputed (Carl Zimmer)
• Fungal mycobiome and cancer (Nature)
• Revisiting fungal mycobiome and cancer (Nature)
• Bacteria deliver channels to plant cells (Nature)
• Ice nucleation by bacteria (YouTube)
• Gram-negative bacterial porins (Curr Protein Pept Sci)
• Xenopus oocyte toolbox (Cold Spring Harb Protocols)
• Take the TWiM Listener survey!

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv