Microbes and insects often interact in a delicate symbiosis. The microbes provide nutrients that the insects need and the insects provide a home for the microbes. In the case of the cicada-microbe interactions, the bacteria Hodgkinia provides the essential amino acids histidine and methionine. Over time, the endosymbionts, the microbes living within the host cells, become…
As COVID-19 spreads around the world, more and more things such as conferences, schools, and large events such as SXSW are being canceled – an effort to halt the spread of the virus and reduce the strain on our healthcare system. Meanwhile, dangerous notions circulate: the idea that nearly everyone will get COVID-19 so distancing…
In this edition of This Month in Microbiology, we feature the Contamination World Cup, huge phages, coronavirus resources, and bacterial warfare.
This post is part of the Meet a Microbe series on the blog. Check it out to meet other microbes! The vineyard becomes the lab in investigations of Botrytis cinerea. It’s a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” type of fungus because it causes two very different types of infections. It produces sweet wine grapes during noble rot…
I probably spend way too much time on Twitter browsing the latest science news and getting distracted by all the cool things in the microbial world. Yes, Science Twitter is a great place to find relevant research papers. Here’s a few things that caught my eye this month.