BacterioFiles

May 26 2024 100 ep. 10 mins 4.1k

BacterioFiles Podcast artwork

The podcast for microbe lovers: reporting on exciting news about bacteria, archaea, and sometimes even eukaryotic microbes and viruses.

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491: Less Liquid Lands Losing Lichens

May 26 2024 9 mins

This episode: Trends of declining lichen populations and biocrust cover overall match trends of increasing temperatures in Colorado dryland! Download Episode (6.4 MB, 9.3 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cherry chlorotic rusty spot associated partitivirus Takeaways: Global climate change is affecting almost every natural system on the planet, in predictable and also

490: Parasitoid Pox Partners

Mar 10 2024 11 mins

This episode: A virus partners with a parasitoid wasp to help exploit fruit fly victims! Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Actinomadura livida Takeaways Parasitoid wasps have an interesting lifestyle: they inject their eggs into the larvae of other insects, and their young hatch and grow up by consuming the host from the inside. Some of th

489: Soil Smell Synthesis Significance

Jan 28 2024 8 mins

This episode: Many organisms produce the smell of earth, geosmin, and many others can sense it–but why? Download Episode (6.0 MB, 8.7 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Acidianus spindle-shaped virus 1 News item Takeaways The smell of soil or earth is one of the most recognizable smells, and comes largely from a chemical called geosmin, produced by many different k

488: Social Slimes Synchronize Sorties

Dec 10 2023 10 mins

This episode: Slime mold amoebas Fonticula alba have interesting and unique foraging and reproductive behaviors! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Cajanus cajan Panzee virus News item Takeaways How did life develop from single-celled organisms acting independently into the complex, multicellular organisms we see and are today? Although i

487: Probiotic Pulverizes Pathogen Persisters

Nov 19 2023 11 mins

This episode: A probiotic strain of E. coli can target and destroy pathogens that survive a treatment of antibiotics! Download Episode (8.2 MB, 12 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces griseoruber Takeaways Antibiotic resistance is becoming more and more of a problem as bacterial pathogens develop resistance to more and more drugs. For some people who develop

486: Biohybrid Bacteria Build Biomass

Oct 29 2023 9 mins

This episode: Incorporating light-absorbing molecules into bacterial membranes can allow bacteria to use solar energy to transform nitrogen gas into fertilizer! Download Episode (6.5 MB, 9.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Wheat dwarf virus Takeaways Turning nitrogen gas into biologically useful compounds, such as protein or ammonia for fertilizer, is an essential p

485: Small Cell Sculpts Sticky Snot Sphere

Oct 15 2023 11 mins

This episode: A marine protist predator traps prey microbes in an attractive bubble of mucus, eats what it wants, and lets the rest sink, possibly sequestering significant amounts of carbon! Download Episode (7.8 MB, 11.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Bat associated cyclovirus 1 News item Takeaways The oceans have a lot of unique, unexplored life in them. This is tr

484: Bacteriophages Boost Brains

Oct 01 2023 10 mins

This episode: Certain phages in the gut are linked with increases in performance on some cognitive tests! Download Episode (7.5 MB, 10.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces bikiniensis News item Takeaways Our gut microbiota includes a large number of viruses, mostly bacteriophages. These fall into two groups, the lytic kind that infects and reproduces itse

483: Recycling Resources Raises Robustness

Sep 17 2023 10 mins

This episode: Adding tags to proteins to increase their degradation can help engineered bacteria grow and survive better under various conditions! Download Episode (7.3 MB, 10.4 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Lactococcus virus sk1 News item Takeaways Engineering bacteria with new genetic pathways allows us to use them in many new and promising applications. Some o

482: Colony Concentric Clock Construction

Sep 03 2023 14 mins

This episode: Single-celled bacteria can act independently to create patterns and structure in their biofilm communities! Download Episode (9.6 MB, 14.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Dictyostelium discoideum Skipper virus News item Takeaways Large multicellular organisms like us have interesting mechanisms for using one set of genetic instructions present in all