In a recent essay in Nature, Margaret McFall-Ngai posits that with regards to intracellular bacteria, "Although widespread among invertebrates, such associations seem to be absent from vertebrates." Can you think of an endosymbiont in a vertebrate? (mitochondria don't count.)
by Barry Goldman — Almost all multicellular critters known (animals, plants, fungi, algae) go through a microbial stage in their life cycle – gamete or spore. Can you think of a multicellular species or higher taxon that has NEVER been caught going through the microbial stage?
by S. Marvin Friedman — It is downright scandalous that in our hi-tech world food-borne infectionsshould be so prevalent (some 48 million cases a year in the US alone, with about 3000 deaths). The tools to take care of these problems are hardly mysterious, requiring mainly safe food production and preservation. High on the list of bacterial offenders is…
by Roberto — In an era of microbiology largely dominated by research surrounding previously unimaginable extent of microbial diversity, here at STC we still have a strong affection for the advances made investigating model bacteria; prime amongst these is E. coli. Thus, it is no surprise that we are fascinated by the history of E. coli research.
by Elio — Is it OK with you if on Fungus Week we post an item that deals with fungal genes instead of whole fungi? We want to do this because of a startling finding, that some aphids are colored because they possess fungus-derived genes for making carotenoids. This is news...
Can you think of any features of a viral genome that might allow you to tell if it is capable of causing a pandemic?
Is it possible that prototypical bacterial endospores (e.g., those of Bacillus subtilis) carry out some metabolic activities, albeit at extremely slow rates?
Why does mitochondria not count? Because it answers the question?
Moselio's answer: It's a matter of definition. Organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts are derived from endosymbionts but have reduced their genome and changed their appearance. The interesting part is that we know of few, if any, intermediate structures, between endosymbionts and organelles. Does that lead to further questions?
Do chloroplasts count? If so, that's my answer. If not, then I'm stumped.
Autumn,
In Talmudic tradition, a question is often answered with another question. Yours is very much to the point but the original question did not refer to organelles but to symbionts. I believe we went over that on a post of January 10.
Elio