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 →
Phaeovirus
对乳酸的想法
by Roberto
In the past, when I thought about lactate (or lactic acid), two things immediately came to mind: the many ways lactic acid bacteria (LAB) furnish us with delicious, fermented foods and the grueling "lactate threshold" training sessions in preparing for endurance athletic events.Read more →
[da capo] Of Terms in Biology: Neuston
by Merry
When I stumbled across the term bacterioneuston, I discovered a whole new world where the air meets the sea. I found that marine neuston had long been used to refer to the diverse flora and fauna inhabiting the topmost 5 cm of the oceans — a distinctly different assemblage than found in the waters below.Read more →
Biocrusts
by Mechas
Have you ever heard of biocrusts? If not, you are not alone. I only stumbled upon this term recently and was surprised to find that it represents a growing field of research on what appear to be fragile, surface soil communities that are just the opposite. Biocrusts are incredibly resilient to inhospitable conditions.Read more →
Go FISHing to Image Bacterial Communities
由大卫Ciccarese
Bacterial communities live in a small world where cells fill any available micron. Depending on their location and surrounding environment, they can readily respond to changes by gearing up their gene repertoire to insure their position in a densely packed biofilm. To be able to visualize this...Read more →
Talmudic Question #206
by Roberto
Two recent events prompt me to post this (double) Talmudic Question(s). First, I had a lot of thoughts inspired by Christoph's Monday post on stop codons being recognized by charged tRNAs in a trypanosomatid: "Stops making sense." How bizarre can non-canonical codes get? Second, I was reading posts from the past.Read more →
Stops Making Sense
by Christoph
One of the most convincing arguments for a common origin of all known life forms on this planet is that they all use the same genetic code. In my understanding, the argument is strengthened, perhaps somewhat counte‑intuitively, by the numerous findings that and how many life forms modify the canonical genetic code in ways that suit them...Read more →
更新Horizontal Gene Transfer
by Mechas and Roberto
We recently prepared a lecture that included a brief discussion of bacterial evolution. Of course, we covered horizontal gene transfer (HGT), which we consider a key pillar in the evolutionary process. We dutifully began our presentation by listing, perforce: transformation, conjugation, and transduction.Read more →
Finding the actual needle in a virtual haystack
by Christoph
...by global sequencing of environmental DNA (eDNA) collected from a sampling site and its taxonomic classification and quantification by bioinformatics. When analyzing such voluminous datasets, operational taxonomic units (OTUs) often pop up that correspond to known taxa/species never found at the sampling site − the topic that brought you here − in addition to...Read more →
AvL, Taste, and the Discovery of Bacteria
by Roberto
Before approaching matters of taste, I'll explain AvL. To many of our readers, the meaning of the acronym will be immediately apparent. But to others, perhaps those newer to microbiology, it may have no meaning at all. AvL is short for Antonie van Leeuwenhoek...Read more →