440: Prokaryotes Pay for Passage

This episode: Bacteria pay for the privilege of cruising around
soil on fungus filaments!


Download Episode (7.7 MB, 11.2 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Clostridium acetobutylicum


News item



Takeaways



In the complex environment of soil, many different kinds of
organisms coexist. Some compete with each other, while others
cooperate in fascinating interactions. One example is how
bacteria can swim through a film of water surrounding the
filaments of fungi, allowing them to traverse more quickly and
reach new locations.


 


In this study, an interaction between fungus and bacterium is
discovered in which the bacteria benefit from the fungus in
enhanced ability to travel, and the fungus benefits by
absorbing vitamins that the bacteria produce.


 
Journal Paper:
Abeysinghe G, Kuchira M, Kudo G, Masuo S, Ninomiya A, Takahashi
K, Utada AS, Hagiwara D, Nomura N, Takaya N, Obana N, Takeshita
N. 2020. Fungal mycelia and bacterial thiamine establish a
mutualistic growth mechanism. Life Sci Alliance 3(12):202000878.


Other interesting stories:



Honeybee gut microbes help them define their social
groupings

Smells that cheese fungi make help cheese microbe community
develop




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


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