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Adrien

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Microbial Advent Calendar – 14 Ice Worms

On the planet of Arrakis, in Frank Herbert's novel Dune, giant desert worms roam around the planet leaving the very precious spice behind them. On a scale closer than fiction, earth as its very own the ice worms! And we are going to have a glance at their microbiota in…
Adrien
December 14, 2017
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Microbial Advent Calendar – 13 the forgotten day

Folks, you took the time to come on my website instead of checking twittter, I am verry touch, but I am also very very sorry.... Due to poorly managed life scheduling, I have to skip day 13 of the Microbial Advent Calendar I will be back tomorrow with some new…
Adrien
December 13, 2017
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Microbial Advent Calendar – 12 Past in Ice

Day 12 of the Microbial Advent Calendar is a story looking into Alaska's past by looking into its permafrost. The permafrost is soil, rock or sediment that is frozen for more than two consecutive years. It generally occurs in regions where the climate average is zero degrees Celsius for most…
Adrien
December 12, 2017
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Microbial Advent Calendar – 11 Yeti Crabs

For the 11th day of the Microbial Advent Calendar what about a fantastic winter themed monster? Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the mythical, the mysterious, the only one, the YETI crabs... *Cough, Cough* Unlike its (still) elusive homonym, the yeti crab is the informal name of a deep…
Adrien
December 11, 2017
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar – 10 Chocolate and Bacteria

What would be an advent calendar without chocolate? Christmas is invariably associated with this delicatessen, it is present everywhere around us. I am pretty sure we all already ate at least a tiny chocolate Santa. What I didn't know, is that to have a good chocolate, you need good cocoa…
Adrien
December 10, 2017
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Microbial Advent Calendar – 09 Pine Microbiome

Belated day 09 of the Microbial Advent Calendar, today we have a look at the Pine Microbiome. Trees are covered with bacteria and in some cases are intimately associated with some, often at the root level. Endophytic bacteria, located within the plant for at least part of its life cycle…
Adrien
December 10, 2017
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Microbial Advent Calendar – 08 Nano Bacterial Christmas lights

The Arctic is definitely an incredible place. Today in our  Microbial Advent Calendar we look at amazing Microbial factories. In a 2016 paper (here) Plaza et al., identified several gammaproteobacterial strains capable of synthesizing fluorescent nanoparticles or quantum dots. Quantum dots are nanoparticles that are their own central theme in…
Adrien
December 8, 2017
Fun

Microbial Advent Calendar – 07 Penguin Microbiome

We stay at the poles for the day 7 of our Microbial Advent Calendar with a recent study (paper here) on the bacterial communities associated with the stomach contents of two different species of Penguins. The study took place on the British Antartic Survey station located on Signy Island (google…
Adrien
December 7, 2017
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Microbial Advent Calendar – 06 Two Cousins from Opposite Poles

Day six of our Microbial Advent Calendar - today we look at two cousins from two poles: Octadecabacter arcticus and Octadecabacter antarcticus. They belong to the Roseobacter family within the Alphaproteobacteria class. These rod-shaped bacteria are found, like their name suggests, in icy water in the Arctic and Antarctica. They…
Adrien
December 6, 2017