Category Archives: microbiology

Introducing The Molecular Ecologist Podcast

Posted on 17 Mar, 2020 by Jeremy Yoder

The Molecular Ecologist is trying out a new medium for the first time since we launched: audio! That’s right, TME contributors, talking about the science we’ve been reading and writing about, recorded for easy listening on any internet-capable device. As … Continue reading →

Posted in community, housekeeping, microbiology, modest proposals, natural history, Science Communication, Science History, TME Podcast | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

FISHing for molecules, a link between form and function in animal–bacteria symbioses

Posted on 15 Mar, 2020 by Laetitia Wilkins

I am posting a blog post that was written by Benedikt Geier, a Ph.D. candidate who just handed in his Ph.D. thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany. In my eyes, these last couple of … Continue reading →

Posted in Coevolution, community ecology, ecology, evolution, genomics, methods, microbiology, natural history, Symbiosis, transcriptomics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Of microbes and whales

Posted on 10 Feb, 2020 by Kelle Freel

At the end of January, the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) journal put out a list: “Readers’ Choice: The best of The ISME Journal 2019” . I don’t know about you (my fellow scientists also with 35+ chrome tabs … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, community ecology, ecology, mammals, microbiology | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Microbial mutualists parted ways with this host plant — multiple times

Posted on 6 Feb, 2020 by Jeremy Yoder
Posted in evolution, microbiology, phylogenetics, plants | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Loki and behold: one microbial culture that brings us one leap closer to understanding the origins of eukaryotic cells

Posted on 23 Aug, 2019 by Kelle Freel

What were you doing 10 years ago? Can you remember? Were you, perhaps, trying to sort out the origins of eukaryotic life? A pre-print (yet to be peer-reviewed) was released earlier this month by Imachi et al., describing a 12 … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology, evolution, genomics, metagenomics, microbiology | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Luck be a Korarchaeota tonight

Posted on 8 Mar, 2019 by Kelle Freel

Some tiny microbes are making a pretty big splash, and not just in the hot springs they call home in Yellowstone National Park. Recently, there was an interesting article published in Nature Microbiology about some amazing archaea, which are generally … Continue reading →

Posted in community ecology, ecology, evolution, genomics, metagenomics, microbiology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The (silent) thunder down under: mud volcanoes and the microbes that love them

Posted on 29 Jan, 2019 by Kelle Freel

One of the most recognized and distributed photographs ever is of the earth taken by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft 28,000 miles above where you’re reading this, and was named “The Blue Marble“. As the photo implies, our … Continue reading →

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Symbiotic organs shaped by distinct modes of genome evolution in cephalopods

Posted on 12 Jan, 2019 by Laetitia Wilkins

Last week I was whining about gaps in our understanding of evolutionary processes in the ocean. The universe heard me, and today I am satisfied to write about the published genome of Euprymna scolopes – the Hawaiian bobtail squid and … Continue reading →

Posted in Coevolution, evolution, genomics, microbiology, next generation sequencing, Symbiosis | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Conference catch-up: The many colors of snow

Posted on 3 Dec, 2018 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Red snow … watermelon snow … green snow … did you know that snow came in so many different colors? I had never heard of watermelon ice (#🍉❄) until a talk given by Robin Kodner from Western Washington University at … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, bioinformatics, citizen science, community ecology, evolution, fieldwork, mating system, microbiology, natural history, phylogenetics, phylogeography, population genetics, selection, speciation, transcriptomics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In it to win it: Selective Advantage through Host-Selected Mutations

Posted on 2 Oct, 2018 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Julian Jackson wrote this post as a final project for Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Julian is a MS student and investigates symbiotic relationships in microbial communities in Dr. Jeff Morris‘ lab. Outside of the … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, genomics, microbiology, Science Communication, selection | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment