Today on TWiM, a charcuterie invasion, and how that acid in your stomach may protect from the invading hordes of microbes.

Hosts: Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

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• 2024 Salmonella outbreak linked to charcuterie meats 
• Multitier regulation of the E. coli extreme acid stress response by CsrA
• Commentary: Peeling the onion: additional layers of regulation in the acid stress response
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TWiM reviews a case of E. faecium bacteremia treated with combination bacteriophage and antibiotic therapy, and how dopamine receptor D2 confers colonization resistance via microbial metabolites.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

Guest: Mark O. Martin

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• Matters Microbial
• Distinct Fusobacterium dominates colorectal cancer (Nature)
• Bacterial subspecies that might drive colon cancer (Nature)
• A bacterial strain linked to colon cancer (Nature)
• Spatial perspective on bacteria in tumors (Nature)
• Colorectal cancer in the young (Yale Med)
• Surface colonization by Flavobacterium johnsoniae promotes its survival (mBio)
• THOR, a model microbiome (mBio)
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TWiM reviews a case of E. faecium bacteremia treated with combination bacteriophage and antibiotic therapy, and how dopamine receptor D2 confers colonization resistance via microbial metabolites.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson. Subscribe to TWiM (free) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Android, RSS, or by email.

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• Vincent’s interviews at SXSW
• Bacteriophage and antibiotic therapy for E. faecium bacteremia (mBio)
• Dopamine receptor D2 confers colonization resistance (Nature)
• CDC’s Reports of Selected E. coli Outbreak Investigations
• Brett Finlay’s narrated EPEC animation
• Colonization resistance by gut microbial metabolome (ACS Chem Biol)
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TWiM discusses the identification of natural products from reconstructed ancient bacterial genomes, and how plant mRNAs move into a fungal pathogen via extracellular vesicles to reduce infection.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Petra Levin.

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• Natural products from ancient bacterial genomes (Science)
• Plant mRNAs move into fungal pathogens (Cell Host Microb)
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TWiM reviews the ongoing cholera outbreak in Africa, and research showing that gut complement induced by the microbiota blocks pathogens and spares commensal bacteria.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson.

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• Cholera in Southern Africa (Africa CDC)
• Deadly cholera outbreak in Africa (NY Times)
• Pediatric cholera in sub-Saharan Africa (Curr Op Ped)
• Gut complement spares commensals (Cell)
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TWiM reveals a new population in the blue cheese-making fungus Penicillium roqueforti and identification of a quorum-sensing autoinducer and siderophore in uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

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• New blue cheese-making fungus (Evol Appl)
• Threat to Camenbert cheese (Guardian)
• French Cheese Under Threat (CNRS News)
• Fungadapt project (YouTube)
• Microbes Make the Cheese (ASM)
• Yersiniabactin in uropathogenic Escherichia coli (mBio)
• Public goods and cheating in microbes (Curr Biol)
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TWiM reveals a database of genome sequences of thousands of Mycobaterium tuberculosis, allowing association with resistance phenotypes to 13 antibiotics, and microbe-derived uremic solutes that enhance thrombosis potential in the host.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson.

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• M. tuberculosis genomes and antimicrobial resistance (PLoS Biol)
• The CRyPTIC consortium
• BashTheBug
• Zooniverse
• Microbial solutes enhance thrombosis (mBio)
• Can our microbiome break our heart? (mBio)
• Pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (EJIFCC)
• How Kidneys Work Video (Mayo Clinic)
• What is a metaorganism? (Zoology)
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TWiM describes the mechanism for the S. aureus itch and scratch induced skin damage, and discovery of a novel class of antibiotics that targets the lipopolysaccharide transporter.

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Links:

• S. aureus drives itch and scratch behavior (Cell)

• Staph scratches its itch (Cell)

• A new class of antibiotics (Nature)

• A new type of antibiotic (Nature)

• Novel antibiotic targets LPS transporter (Nature)

• New antibiotic traps LPS (Nature)

• Macrocyclic peptide drugs (Science)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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A highly reduced TWiM team presents a study of the use of phage diversity in cell-free DNA to identify bacterial pathogens in human sepsis cases, and the evolution, persistence, and host adaptation of a gonococcal antimicrobial resistance plasmid that emerged in the pre-antibiotic era.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Petra Levin

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• Phages identify sepsis pathogens (Nat Micro)
• Gonococcal AMR plasmid from pre-antibiotic era (PLoS Genetics)
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Music used on TWiM is by Ronald Jenkees.

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On the occasion of TWiM’s 300th episode, we discuss how two college students found a new antibiotic in soil, Barbara Iglewski’s passing, and Elio returns for an appearance.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson. Guest: Elio Schaechter

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• Barbara Iglewski dies
• Antimicrobial activity of P. nicotinovorans (MicroPubl Biol)
• 2 NWTC students found a new antibiotic in soil (Green Bay Press Gazette)
• ESKAPE bacteria group (Clover)
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From ASM’s Conference for Undergraduate Educators 2023 in Phoenix, TWiM speaks with Amaya Garcia Costas and Gwendolyn Knapp about their approaches to undergraduate microbiology education, and how they use TWiM as part of their curricula.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Petra Levin and Michele Swanson. Guest: Amaya Garcia Costas and Gwendolyn Knapp.

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• ASMCUE 2023
• Teaching in the time of COVID-19 (J Microbiol Biol Edu)
• Take the TWiM Listener survey!

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