Noteworthy — While the phages χ and PBS1 attach to the flagella of their hosts via the tail fibers, phage 7–7‑1 of Agrobacterium sp. H13‑3 has another trick up its sleeve – or better: on its head (capsid). Noteborn et al. Found that phage 7–7‑1 sports a bunch of dreadlocks on its head, proteinaceous fibers with which it attaches to host flagella.
by Christoph — Among the Alphaproteobacteria, a number of species from phylogenetically distantly related orders are known for forming rosettes during growth. Despite commonalities, they all have their own peculiarities when it comes to the first cell‑cell contact(s) during "rosetting". Phaeobacter inhibens (order Rhodobacterales) cells attach to each other by their "sticky ends" at one pole...
by Christoph — When it comes to cellular differentiation in bacteria, two model systems stand out in my mind: sporulation in Bacillus subtilis and the two different cell morphologies in Caulobacter crescentus. Both systems have in common that dramatic changes in cell morphology, are easily observed in the microscope. In the case of B. subtilis spore formation, a number of stress signals can derail the cell from its default cell cycle...
by Merry Youle — Something bizarre can be seen in TEMs of a Caulobacter crescentus phage, φCbK. This was first reported in a paper published back in 1972 (see the image to the right). In most respects, φCbK is your typical ho-hum siphovirus with an elongated head (60 nm diameter, 200 nm long) sporting…
by Alan Derman — Imagine trying to acquaint yourself with your favorite bacterium by learning the intracellular address of each and every one of its proteins. You can't see them in a light microscope, and you can't realistically do immunofluorescence; for that you'd need to purify each one and raise antibodies. So you have to modify them so that they can be seen. You have to tag them with...
by Conrad Woldringh — In a post on May 12, Elio asked where ribosomes are located in bacterial cells. According to a 2006 paper by Ortiz et al., "the ribosomes are evenly distributed throughout the cytosol" and "no distinct nucleoid territory was observed." This prompts one to also ask: Where art thou, o nucleoid?
