by Elio — A rather specific term, trophosome refers – as per the Wikipedia – to 'an organ found in some animals that houses symbiotic bacteria that provide food for their host.' Trophé (τροφή) denotes nourishment, soma (σῶμα), body, denoting that trophosomes are intimately involved in their host's nutrition.
by Christoph — Whenever you stumble across the name of a bacterial species you've never heard of before you probably wonder what the heck that name wants to tell you. You're not alone, also microbiologists often scratch their heads. Sure, they are familiar with the venerable tradition in all of biology to name species according to the rules...
by Christoph — Microbiologists face three problems today when talking to fellow biologists or any curious audience: the numbers of prokaryotes and unicellular eukaryotes, their diversity, and their tininess. Sure, one can do the maths and juggle with numbers. That's entertaining, and everybody is amazed when they learn that microbiologists easily count up to 10^8 individual cells in an E. coli colony...
by Than Kyaw — When limiting nutrients like nitrates and phosphates are introduced into a body of water, microscopic algae multiply so much that the water changes color. For example, in response to fertilizer runoff, a 2011 cyanobacteria bloom changed the clear waters of Lake Erie into a dark-green soup and forced the nearby city of Toledo into a state of water crisis.
by Rachel Diner — At the February 2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM) in New Orleans, hundreds of presenters shared their experiences investigating the exciting lives of microbes in the world's oceans. Coming from near and far, nearly 5,000 scientists and policy-makers swarmed the conference center; some zipping from room to room to catch several talks of interest, while others were content to stay...
by Merry — When it comes to putting food on the table, heterotrophic marine bacteria have at least two options. They can partake of the dissolved organic material in the oceans, a dilute soup including phage-induced bacterial lysate and the photosynthate leaked from phytoplankton and algae. Or they can...
