484: Bacteriophages Boost Brains

This episode: Certain phages in the gut are linked with increases
in performance on some cognitive tests!


Download Episode (7.5 MB, 10.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces bikiniensis


News item


Takeaways





Our gut microbiota includes a large number of viruses,
mostly bacteriophages. These fall into two groups, the
lytic kind that infects and reproduces itself immediately
in a host, and the lysogenic kind that can integrate its
genome into the host bacterial genome and remain dormant
for long periods.

In this study, a higher proportion of lysogenic phages was
correlated with increased performance on cognitive tests in
multiple species. In humans, men showed a small increase in
some tests and women in others. In mice and fruit flies,
transplant or ingestion of phages was linked to increased
memory performance.


 
Journal Paper:
Mayneris-Perxachs J, Castells-Nobau A, Arnoriaga-Rodríguez M,
Garre-Olmo J, Puig J, Ramos R, Martínez-Hernández F, Burokas
A, Coll C, Moreno-Navarrete JM, Zapata-Tona C, Pedraza S,
Pérez-Brocal V, Ramió-Torrentà L, Ricart W, Moya A,
Martínez-García M, Maldonado R, Fernández-Real J-M. 2022.
Caudovirales bacteriophages are associated with improved
executive function and memory in flies, mice, and humans.
Cell Host Microbe 30:340-356.e8.

Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail
dot com. Thanks for listening!


Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android,
or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the
show at Twitter or Facebook.