Sarah Wettstadt is a microbiologist-turned science writer and communicator writing for professional associations, life science organisations and researchers from the biological sciences. She runs the blog BacterialWorld and co-published the colouring book “Coloured Bacteria from A to Z”. As science communication manager for the Scientific Panel on Responsible Plant Nutrition and blog post commissioner for the FEMSmicroBlog, Sarah writes about microbiology and environmental topics for various audiences. To help scientists improve their science communication skills, she co-founded SciComm Society, through which she offers guides, webinars and 1-on-1 coaching. Previous to her science communication career, Sarah did a PhD at Imperial College London, UK, and a postdoc at the CSIC in Granada, Spain. In her non-scicomm time, she enjoys the sunny beaches in Spain playing beach volleyball or travels the world.
When a bacterial cell grows, it needs to increase both the cell content and the cell envelope. To grow their outer membranes, bacteria transport lipids with ferries, bridges and tunnels from one side to the other. These transport means allow the whole bacterium to expand and thrive.
The microbial world is super colorful and diverse.
Even though, we sometimes hear too many negative news articles about certain players of the microbial world, we should not forget about all the other interesting and helpful microbes.
To remind you that the microbial world consists of so many more players, we assembled this list of common and interesting microbes.
Bacteria produce many different molecules with unique tastes and smells. We and animals can react in specific ways to the bacterial molecules, however it is not always clear how these molecules actually help the bacteria. A new study focused on one such molecules and revealed that bacteria produce geosmin to attract small animals to use them to hitchhike.
Bacteria use nanoweapons to kill other bacteria. For long, it was unclear how toxins stick to the arrow of these nanoweapons. Now, a new study visualised the type 6 secretion system spike and showed how bacteria glue the toxin to the arrow.
The players in the microbial world always interact with each other driving ecology and evolution forward. Bacteriophages thank their bacterial hosts for their production in a very special way: They protect bacteria from antibiotic attacks by forming shielding walls around the cells. While the microbial world gets more and more complex with such mechanisms, it also represents another strategy for antimicrobial resistances.
The bacteria and fungi living on cocoa beans degrade the sugars in the fruit. With this fermentation, the so-called cocobiota produces metabolites that give chocolate its delicious taste. Read about the microbes that are part of the cocobiota and why chocolate tastes the way it does.
Microbes and bacteria touch every aspect of our lives. They have so many superpowers that impact the environment, food production, bioremediation and even the climate. Here, we will look at 20 of the most fascinating bacterial superpowers and tell you where you might encounter them throughout your day. But don’t forget, there are plenty more.
Bacteria can form outer membrane vesicles and fill them with antibiotics. They then send these toxic bubbles off to kill competing bacteria.
The differences between bacteria and viruses are based on their structure, size and reproduction. While bacteria are generally considered living organisms, viruses are not.
Your gut microbiome is full of helpful and fascinating bacteria. They all work together to keep you healthy, digest your food and fight off intruders. Here, you will learn about what a healthy gut microbiome is, what it does and how to keep it.
Bacteria use one-component systems and two-component systems to sense their environment and adapt to changing conditions.
To protect themselves from the environment, bacteria build shielding biofilms houses. But once such a house gets old, bacteria need to break out it. For that, bacteria produce special scissors that can break biofilms and set free the bacteria.
Bacteria developed lethal killing machines to deliver toxins into other organisms. These toxic bullets have different functions to break up essential components of the prey. Independent on what the target of the toxin is, the prey surely will not come out happy after that!
Bacteria have powerful killing machines with which they carve out their own niches. To kill competitors, bacteria from the Vibrio family, have a powerful crossbow and its arrows availble. However, these bacteria can decide whether they risk a kill and take up what’s left of the dead prey or they escape the dangerous situation. Here, we look at how bacteria decide to kill or flee.
Cable bacteria are long chains of bacteria that transport electrons within this chain. In this fascinating bacterial cable, these bacteria then conduct electricity.
Bacteria can sense the iron concentration of their environment thanks to special iron transporters, of which they produce multiple.
Bacteria in your mouth protect your teeth from pathogenic bacteria. When you eat lots of sugars, the pathogens can fight off your friendly bacteria. The more pathogenic bacteria grow on your teeth, the more acids they produce that can cause caries and cavities. Learn about the bacterial battles in your mouths.
Some bacteria in our guts have proteins that cleave off sugars from our blood cells. This can lead to temporally changing blood types to feed the bacteria.
When bacteria are under attack, they are telling their siblings about the incoming danger. This allows them to produce weapons – like the molecule bacteriocin – to prepare themselves for a counterattack. With this altruistic behaviour, bacteria assemble and fight back as a team.
Bacteria can be major problems for human health. One of the reasons for that is because they have the ability to hide in their own houses. Such a house is called a bacterial biofilm which protect bacteria from harsh environments, toxic chemicals and to form a community within the biofilm.