commensal

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Stanley Maloy and Elio Schaechter.

On episode #18 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Michael, Elio, and Stanley explain how to make the human intestinal commensal and benign laboratory bacterium Escherichia coli K-12 into an invasive organism, and the unearthing of century-old spores in New York City.

[powerpress url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/twimshow/TWiM018.mp3″]

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiM #18 (54 MB, .mp3, 74 minutes).

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Conversion of E. coli K-12 to an invasive form (mBio)
• Pedigree of E. coli K-12 (pdf)
• The facade of E. coli K-12 (Small Things Considered)
• Unearthing of century old bacteria in NYC (ABC News)
• Bacteria in 30,000 year old salt crystals (Geology)
• Old bacteria in ice
• Old, small, cold… (Small Things Considered)
• IP6 mediated autoprocessing of bacterial toxins (PloS Path)
• Letters read on TWiM #18

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@microbe.tv, or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.