Not a bad hair day for Phage 7-7-1

Noteworthy — While the phages χ and PBS1 attach to the flagella of their hosts via the tail fibers, phage 7-7-1 of Agrobacterium sp. H13-3 has another trick up its sleeve – or better: on its head (capsid). Noteborn et al. Found that phage 7-7-1 sports a bunch of dreadlocks on its head, proteinaceous fibers with which it attaches to host flagella.

Read more > https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/02/not-a-bad-hair-day-for-phage-7-7-1.html
#microbiology

Enter the Pirates

by Christoph — Microbiologists know of only a small number of genuine rapacious bacterial species. In scientific terms, they are referred to as "predatory bacteria". Well-known examples are Myxococcus xanthus and its ilk, which practice "wolf pack" swarm hunting, and the more solitary vampires from the Bdellovibrio tribe. Enter the pirates with Captain Aureispira…

Read more > https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/02/enter-the-pirates.html
#microbiology

Diversity, Diversidad, Diversität...

Noteworthy — We are living through interesting times, to say the least. Not long ago, though now it may feel that it's been eons, we could freely celebrate microbial diversity, biodiversity, structural diversity, diversity of opinions, diversity of interests and, yes, human diversity even!...

read more > https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/02/diversity-diversidad-diversit%C3%A4t.html

Lost & Found #3

by Christoph — If you want to leave 𝕏 (formerly Twitter) for any reason, you can deactivate or completely delete your account. That's it then. But if you want to take a few still interesting bookmarks with you when you move out, well, then the 𝕏odus takes a little longer. Here are three more of these salvaged bookmarks, in 'Lost & Found #3...

Read more > https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/02/lost-and-found-3.html
#microbiology

Bdellovibrio–Prey Interactions

Noteworthy —The environmental bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is unique in its capacity to prey and feed on other bacteria. This predatory behavior involves attaching and entering prey cells to consume and grow on cytoplasmic macromolecules, eventually lysing the host. But how do these bacterial predators recognize and invade their prey?

read more > https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/02/bdellovibrioprey-interactions.html
#microbiology

Defining Life with Aristotle

by Chelsi Cassilly and Eric Bodlak — What is life? Initially, it seems like a simple question. The immediate response is often to compare and contrast the many things we encounter daily that are animate and inanimate. Yet this question becomes harder the longer you sit with it. Because life on this planet – that is, life as we know it – includes microbial life...

read more > https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/02/defining-life-with-aristotle.html
#microbiology

An Unusual Symbiosome

Noteworthy — This paper describes the highly evolved interactions between anaerobic protists and their syntrophic sulfate-reducing symbionts. Remarkably, the symbionts reside in an elaborate symbiosomal membrane network that places them adjacent to both the host's hydrogenosome and the extracellular milieu, where they can access sulfate. The physical properties of the symbiosome ensures the efficiency of this syntrophy.

read more > https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/01/an-unusual-symbiosome.html
#microbiology

Did organs precede organisms in the dawn of life?

by Fernando Baquero – We are commemorating the centennial of the first significant scientific hypothesis aimed at understanding the origin of life, published in 1924 by Alexander Ivánovich Oparin (1894-1980). The implicit message in this wonderful-to-read publication, but not expressed as such in the text, is that life arises in a kind of primordial soup of organic and inorganic molecules dissolved...

https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/01/did-organs-precede-organisms-in-the-dawn-of-life.html
#microbiology

Bidirectional Plant–Bacterial Gene Exchange

Noteworthy – Plants interact with a broad range of commensal bacteria and often rely on these microbial partners for proper growth and development. In this study, Haimlich et al. analyzed genomes of the fast-growing plant Arabidopsis thaliana and members of its microbiome

https://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2025/01/bidirectional-plantbacterial-gene-exchange.html
#microbiology