“Sixty years on, we know that HGT is one of the most profound aspects of bacterial life. It allows bacteria to evolve at blistering speeds. When they face new challenges, they don't have to wait for the right mutations to… — Ed Yong Copy Share Image
“Drinking lots of alcohol makes the gut leakier, allowing microbes to more readily influence the brain. Could that help to explain why alcoholics often experience depression or anxiety? Our diet reshapes the microbes in our gut, could those changes ripple out to affect our minds? The gut microbiome becomes less stable in old age-could that contribute to the rise of… — Ed Yong Copy Share
“No, the algae were making something that killed the corals via their own microbes. That something turned out to be dissolved organic carbon (DOC); essentially, sugars and carbohydrates in the water. When algae get too numerous on a reef they make huge amounts of DOC and create a banquet for coral microbes. These algal sugars would normally flow up the… — Ed Yong Copy Share
“Patterson died in 2014 but Mazmanian is now carrying on his friend's work. His long-term goal is to develop a bacterium that people can swallow to control some of the more difficult symptoms of autism. That might be B-frag: it certainly worked well in the mice, and happens to be the most heavily depleted microbe in the guts of people… — Ed Yong Copy Share
“Mucus is made from giant molecules called mucins, each consisting of a central protein backbone with thousands of sugar molecules branching off it. These sugars allow individual mucins to become entangled, forming a dense, nearly impenetrable thicket – a Great Wall of Mucus that stops wayward microbes from penetrating deeper into the body. And if that wasn’t deterrent enough, the… — Ed Yong Copy Share
“The Earth is 4.54 billion years old. A span of time that big is too mind-boggling to comprehend, so let’s collapse the planet’s entire history into a single calendar year.1 Right now, as you’re reading this page, it is 31st December, just before the stroke of midnight. (Thankfully, fireworks were invented nine seconds ago.) Humans have only existed for the… — Ed Yong Copy Share
“Many of the plants that the spider mite targets can release hydrogen cyanide when their tissues are breached. This substance is extraordinarily inimical to life. Exterminators have poisoned rats with it. Whalers added it to their harpoons. The Nazis used it in concentration camps. But the spider mite is impervious. One of its genes can make an enzyme that converts… — Ed Yong Copy Share
“When microbiologists first started cataloguing the human microbiome in its entirety they hoped to discover a "core" microbiome: a group of species that everyone shares. It's now debatable if that core exists. Some species are common, but none is everywhere. If there is a core, it exists at the level of functions, not organisms. There are certain jobs, like digesting… — Ed Yong Copy Share
“Most animals can't tap into these open-source adaptations deliberately. The flies didn't seek out Spiroplasma to solve their worm problem. Woodrats didn't go looking for the creosote-defusing microbes so they could widen their diet. They must rely on luck to endow them with the right partners. But we humans aren't so restricted. We are innovators, planners, and problem-solvers. And we… — Ed Yong Copy Share
“The variations that exist between the body parts dwarf those that exist between people. Put simply, the bacteria on your forearm are more similar… — Ed Yong Copy Share Image
“It earns its keep. As it digests HMOs, B. infantis releases short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that feed an infant's gut cells - so while mothers nourish this microbe, the microbe in turn nourishes the baby. Through direct contact, B. Infantis also encourages gut cells to make adhesive proteins that seal the gaps between them, and anti-inflammatory molecules that calibrate the… — Ed Yong Copy Share
“When Hamiltonella's genome was sequenced, the real reason behind the bacterium's protective powers became apparent: about half of its DNA actually belonged to a virus. It was a phage - one of those spindly-legged, mucus-loving viruses that we met before. They typically kill bacteria by reproducing inside them and bursting fatally outward. But they can also opt for a more… — Ed Yong Copy Share
