438: Bacteria Bait Bug Babies

This episode: Actinomycete bacteria are often helpful to insects,
but some can be deadly yet still attractive!


Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces corchorusii


 


News item



Takeaways


Actinomycete bacteria do a lot of interesting things. They
grow like fungi, with mycelia and spores, and produce many
interesting compounds, including antibiotics and other useful
pharmaceuticals. They often team up with insects, producing
such compounds to assist them in competing with other
organisms or resisting disease.


 


But such amazingly helpful powers of chemistry can also be
amazingly harmful. In this study, multiple strains of these
bacteria were able to kill fruit fly larvae that ingested
their spores. The toxin the bacteria produced was a chemical
that interferes with cells' DNA-protein interactions. The
bacteria also produced an odor that, in certain
concentrations, lured the larvae to their doom.


Journal Paper:
Ho LK, Daniel-Ivad M, Jeedigunta SP, Li J, Iliadi KG, Boulianne
GL, Hurd TR, Smibert CA, Nodwell JR. 2020. Chemical entrapment
and killing of insects by bacteria. Nat Commun 11:4608.


Other interesting stories:



Eukaryotes borrowed viperin genes for proteins that
prokaryotes use to fight viruses (paper)

Bacteria can break down plastic even faster with newly
discovered enzyme



Also news, Feedspot ranked BacterioFiles in
the top 5 virology podcasts! Check out the list for other good
shows about viruses.



 


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.