9 min listen
463: Selectively Stimulating Cell Squatters
FromBacterioFiles
ratings:
Length:
12 minutes
Released:
Sep 20, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
This episode: Bacteria produce a compound that causes a phage lurking in the genome of a competing species to wake up and start killing that competitor! Download Episode (8.2 MB, 12.0 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Zaire ebolavirus News item Takeaways Some bacteriophages infect and immediately destroy their hosts in a burst of new viruses, while others can be stealthier, integrating their genome into the genome of the host and remaining there quietly even over multiple generations of the bacteria. When something stresses the host, such as DNA damage, these integrated phages (prophages) become active and start producing new viruses, killing their host like the other kind does. In this study, one kind of bacteria release a chemical that wakes up phages in a competitor species of bacteria. This is helpful for competition, but even more interesting is that out of the six prophages in the competitor species, the chemical wakes up only one of them. Such selective phage induction could be interesting to study. Journal Paper: Jancheva M, Böttcher T. 2021. A Metabolite of Pseudomonas Triggers Prophage-Selective Lysogenic to Lytic Conversion in Staphylococcus aureus. J Am Chem Soc 143:8344–8351. Other interesting stories: Lab-evolved fungus strain could protect honeybees from mites Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.
Released:
Sep 20, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (97)
400: Considering Consumables' Community Correlations: This episode: Figuring out how gut communities change with changes in diet! (6.1 MB, 8.8 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Hepacivirus A Takeaways Diet can play a big role in our health. It's not a magic pill that can cure or... by BacterioFiles