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Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – House Arrest

Twentieth Microbial Advent Calendar! Can you believe it? Today we have a look at another insect-bacteria symbiosis: the rice weevil. We saw this month that insect often establish symbiosis with bacteria. Symbiotic bacteria can play important roles in the life of insects affecting their reproduction, complementing their diet, increasing their resistance…
Adrien
December 21, 2018
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – Blood feast

We continue the Microbial Advent Calendar with Leeches, and of course, they have bacteria to help them digest blood! Before continuing any further we have to take a mandatory Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou stop. Please enjoy the gif on your right. Now we can proceed. Like many…
Adrien
December 18, 2018
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – Bone eater!

In the depth of the ocean, you chew on what you can! We examine the curious case of the Osedax worm for the 11th day of the Microbial Advent Calendar! Many marine worms have established symbioses with some type of bacteria, the most common association is between worms and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria.…
Adrien
December 13, 2018
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – Mysterious Helper

Daphnia are the center of our 11th day of Microbial Advent Calendar! Those tiny crustaceans are commonly found as inhabitants of ponds and lakes throughout the world. This zooplankton is a key primary consumer in freshwater ecosystems. A recent set of studies highlighted the fact that when you sterilize Daphnia embryos the emerging…
Adrien
December 12, 2018
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – Another exception to a rule

For the 1oth (!!!) Microbial Advent Calendar we are not moving away very far away from our "Wolbachia Special" and we look at a very recent study describing an extracellular Rickettsia. Why is this fascinating and worth mentioning? Well because to date all the known Rickettsiales (the whole order of…
Adrien
December 11, 2018
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – Bad turning Good

Yesterday was the first blog post about our "Wolbachia Special" in the Microbial Advent Calendar. Today we have a look at the other side of the story. In some cases, Wolbachia infections can be beneficial to their host. Some help the host resist viral infection, increase lifespan or fecundity while others…
Adrien
December 9, 2018
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – Masters of Sex

For the first weekend of the Microbial Advent Calendar, we are doing a "Wolbachia Special"! There are so many cool things about Wolbachia that I could have run at least a whole week with one example a day. Instead, we are going to condense the awesomeness of these bacteria in…
Adrien
December 9, 2018
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – Nibbling Xylan

Day six of the Microbial Advent Calendar. Today let's have a look at termites! Cool little army of wood munchers. Their secret? A whole community of microbe hidden in their tiny gut! There are more than 3000 species of termites and they almost all digest wood with a little help…
Adrien
December 7, 2018
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – A light in the dark

Deep in the dark ocean we go for Day 4 of the Microbial Advent Calendar! Where the anglerfish lure prey with their bioluminescent headlight organ at the end of a modified fin! And you guessed right this organ houses a bunch of bacteria who generate the light! You find many…
Adrien
December 5, 2018
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar 2k18 – Being its own apothecary

For day 3 of the Microbial Advent Calendar, let's have a look at the Beewolf (Philanthus triangulum). Neither a bee nor a wolf, it is, in fact, a predatory wasp that actually hunts bees. Although the adult does not feed on bees, but on plant nectar, the females hunt bees…
Adrien
December 4, 2018