New microbes found in a rhino, bird crops and mobile phone screens

Posted on August 24, 2017 by

 

Scientists have identified a new species of bacterium from a rhinoceros. The team isolated the strain from the genital tract of Sani the rhinoceros during a routine microbiological test. They name it Arcanobacterium wilhelmae after Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart, where it was found.

Meanwhile, researchers in a wild animal park in China have discovered a novel actinobacterium in the faeces of a golden snub-nosed monkey. The species, Mobilicoccus caccae becomes only the second member of its genus, joining Mobilicoccus pelagius, which was originally isolated from the intestinal tract of a fish.

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Posted in New to Science | 3 Comments

Spotlight on Grants: Applied Microbiology in Uganda

Posted on August 17, 2017 by

Every year, the Microbiology Society awards grants from its International Development Fund to support members’ activities in countries where microbiology teaching or diagnostics require development. Dr Kostas Gkatzionis writes about his trip to Uganda earlier this year to run activities on applied microbiology for students at Kyambogo University.

Food microbiology is essential to build capacity in Uganda for food safety and quality testing, as well as increasing Uganda’s chances of full participation in international food trade. This is why in January 2017, together with Dr Ediriisa, I organised three weeks of activities on applied microbiology at Kyambogo University, with a focus on techniques for characterising bacterial flora in fermented foods.

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Why don’t archaea cause disease?

Posted on August 11, 2017 by

Are there really no archaeal pathogens? And if not, why not?

Dr James Chong explores these questions in a film and article for Microbiology Today.
Read the full comment piece here.

For a microbe, pathogenesis is a fundamentally bad idea. From an anthropomorphic point of view, why would you kill the host that is providing you with food and board at no cost? Is this not a poorly thought-through error of judgement? Surely a much better approach to propagation of one’s progeny is to hide in a corner and hope you’re not noticed? By minimising the burden on your host – or, better yet, offering them some service – they are more likely to tolerate, or even encourage, your presence. Continue reading →

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What is the Nagoya Protocol? How does it relate to microbiology?

Posted on August 3, 2017 by

Microbiology is an interconnected discipline, with researchers all over the world sharing samples and genetic data at an ever increasing pace. But how can we ensure that everyone can also benefit from any discoveries made? In this post, Katie Beckett from the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) tells us about the Nagoya Protocol, which aims to ensure that research benefits are shared in an equitable way.

Throughout human history, micro-organisms have played a critical role in the development of human society. From brewing beer to the Black Death, their impact has been significant, and microbiologists such as van Leeuwenhoek and Fleming have earned their place in history. Today, microbiology is a fundamental discipline in driving forward innovative research and new product development, such as producing new antibiotics to combat increasing drug resistance or studies into the effects of microbial communities on carbon and nitrogen cycles and resulting impacts on climate change. Microbiology is applied across a whole host of sectors and research areas with the micro-organisms themselves often being sourced from specialist collections around the world. In the first instance however, these genetic resources come from nature, existing in every part of the global biosphere – from the soil, atmosphere, and ocean, to hot springs and rock formations.

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Podcast: Good Germs, Bad Germs

Posted on July 27, 2017 by

Have you ever wondered about the kinds of microbes that are present in your kitchen? In the fruit bowl or the fridge, on your chopping boards or cleaning cloths?

Good Germs Bad Germs is a citizen science project from the University of Oxford, allowing people to experiment on the microbial life in their kitchens and to visualise the results.

This month, we went to Oxford to visit one of the households taking part in the project, and spoke to researchers Dr Jamie Lorimer and Dr Beth Greenhough about they’ve found.

More information at www.goodgerms.org

Anand Jagatia

Image courtesy of the researchers
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New microbes found in vultures, rattlesnakes and Japanese burial mounds

Posted on July 25, 2017 by

Each month, the Microbiology Society publishes the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM), which details newly discovered species of bacteria, fungi and protists. Here are a few of the new species that have been discovered and the places they’ve been found. 

There are plenty of exciting finds this month so let’s dive straight in.

Researchers from China have discovered two new species of bacteria from two different species of Old World vulture in the Tibetan Plateau. Vultures may be a source of infectious pathogens as they feed on rotting carcasses and also scavenge the corpses from sky burials. To study the microbiome of vultures in this part of the world, the team live-captured wild birds and took rectal swabs, isolating the bacteria Actinomyces liubingyangii and Actinomyces vulturis.

 A team from the US has isolated a bacterium from a timber rattlesnake in Minnesota, which they name Enterococcus crotali. Timber rattlesnakes are an animal we’ve written about before, as they’re one of the species that has been hit hard by snake fungal disease in North America. Continue reading →

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A killer snake fungus has been found in wild British snakes for the first time

Posted on July 20, 2017 by

Back in April 2016, we wrote about an emerging disease that’s been killing wild snake populations in North America. Snake fungal disease, or SFD, is an infection that leads to blisters and lesions on snakes’ skin, turning scales yellow and crusty, and making eyes clouded and milky. Last year, scientists identified that the disease is caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, a fungus that eats the keratin in infected tissue (the same protein found in nails and hair, although O. ophiodiicola only infects snakes).

SFD is of growing concern in the eastern US, where it’s causing declines in already fragile snake populations. Now, for the first time, SFD has been detected in wild snakes outside America – here in Great Britain it’s been found in grass snakes, while in mainland Europe a single infected dice snake has been identified.

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Posted in Animal Microbiology, Emerging Diseases | Tagged | 3 Comments