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Mind-Altering Bugs – ScienceNOW

Posted on by charlie

“Hundreds of species of bacteria call the human gut their home. This gut “microbiome” influences our physiology and health in ways that scientists are only beginning to understand. Now, a new study suggests that gut bacteria can even mess with the mind, altering brain chemistry and changing mood and behavior.”

The indications are mounting that, like other things we dump in our gut, bacteria can also affect our mind. The conclusive evidence here is that the effect seen on mice fed with a certain bacteria goes away if the vagus nerve (a nerve that transmits info from gut to brain) is severed prior to feeding the bacteria to the mice. Just wondering when the probiotic mood-altering pills and yogurts start coming out. Or better, LSD synthbio bugs escape and we all go for a trip!

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Your Gut Bacteria Are What You Eat – ScienceNOW

Posted on by charlie

“A large European-Asian consortium brought some order to the chaos when it reported in a Nature paper in April that humanity can be roughly divided into three “enterotypes” depending on which genus of bacteria dominates in people’s gut: Bacteroides, Ruminococcus, or Prevotella. People’s enterotype appeared to be stable over time, but it remains unclear why your gut population might be so radically different from your neighbor’s.”

Yet another report on diet and gut microbiome. If I could start all over again in grad-school, I’d study this. Human microbiological ecology is going to be big in so many areas, helping us understand the effects that our microbiome has on our health. And of course, this will go hand-in-hand with practical use of naturally occurring microbes.

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Lager Beer’s Mystery Yeast – ScienceNOW

Posted on by charlie

“Lager may have its roots in Bavaria, but a key ingredient arrived from halfway around the world. Scientists have discovered that the yeast used to brew this light-colored beer may hail from Argentina. Apparently, yeast cells growing in Patagonian trees made their way to Europe and into the barrels of brewers.”

Great story about genomics solving an interesting riddle in brewing.

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Power Walk, Gain a Watt – ScienceNOW

Posted on by charlie

“If scaled up to the size that would fit in a typical shoe, this would enable the Wisconsin researchers to harvest 2 watts of power, they report today in Nature Communications. At that rate, a person could completely recharge a standard cell phone battery by going for a 2-hour stroll, Krupenkin says. Krupenkin and Taylor have formed a company called InStep NanoPower in Madison to commercialize the new technology. They are currently working to produce a prototype device that can be fitted into the sole of a shoe, which they expect will be ready in 2 years.”

I remember a team from MIT back in the 80s and 90s working on piezo-electric show inserts that would power a weak computer for exchanging business cards via a hand shake.

 

 

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PLoS Genetics: A Broad Brush, Global Overview of Bacterial Sexuality

Posted on by charlie

“These results have several implications. Firstly, plasmids and ICEs share the same protein families, and should be considered as alternative vehicles for conjugation pathways, rather than as distinct entities. Secondly, the potential for horizontal gene transfer and homologous recombination is widespread throughout microbes, which can help explain why mobile genetic elements are so common in their genomes. Finally, conjugative elements provide a ubiquitous mechanism for the facile transmission of genes between discrete clades, whose predominance has not previously been adequately appreciated.”

The facility with which microbes tinker with DNA within and between species has always fascinated me. Indeed, my current interest is in horizontal gene transfer.

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Living to 100 and Beyond – WSJ.com

Posted on by charlie

“In Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels,” Gulliver encounters a small group of immortals, the struldbrugs. “Those excellent struldbrugs,” exclaims Gulliver, “who, being born exempt from that universal calamity of human nature, have their minds free and disengaged, without the weight and depression of spirits caused by the continual apprehensions of death!”

But the fate of these immortals wasn’t so simple, as Swift goes on to report. They were still subject to aging and disease, so that by 80, they were “opinionative, peevish, covetous, morose, vain, talkative,” as well as “incapable of friendship, and dead to all natural affection, which never descended below their grandchildren.” At 90, they lost their teeth and hair and couldn’t carry on conversations.”

Long life versus living long. Thinking of the ring wraiths. 😛

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Genome at Home: Biohackers Build Their Own Labs | Magazine

Posted on by charlie

“A tiny spare bedroom is not an ideal space for a high tech biofabrication facility. To get to the one Josh Perfetto is putting together, visitors must walk all the way to the back of his mostly unfurnished house in Saratoga, California—through the kitchen, past some empty rooms, across a den with a lone couch—then climb a poorly lit staircase and round a corner.”

A really nice article on the state of gadgets DIYbiologists are creating on their own to do their biology. Very fun.

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PLoS ONE: High Diversity of the Saliva Microbiome in Batwa Pygmies

Posted on by charlie

“In conclusion, the Batwa exhibit higher diversity in their saliva microbiome composition. A number of unique genera are found only in the Batwa, and the lifestyle and diet of the Batwa may play a role in their distinctive saliva microbiome. Our results also highlight the importance of studying the microbiomes of non-traditional groups, in order to fully encompass the diversity of the human microbiome.”

This hunter-gatherer population has lower incidence of cavities. The investigators suggest this is because their diet affects the saliva microbiome which in turn prevents cavities. Makes sense. Interesting paper.

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