Today I’d like to talk about something closer to home… the human microbiome! I mentioned this briefly in a previous post where I introduced metagenomics, describing how the human microbiome isn’t just a collection of cells that happen to live with us, but a complex community of bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses, all coexisting in […]
In my last post, I talked about how we can detect lateral gene transfer (LGT) in huge amounts of sequencing data. I introduced pattern-based methods that look for unusual genomic signatures that can flag when a foreign gene doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the genome. These methods are great for detecting recent transfers, […]
I think I’ve spent a great amount of time talking about the process of lateral gene transfer (LGT) in general, the main mechanisms, and even how some genes are more prone to being shared than others. I’ve also mentioned the challenges a foreign gene might face upon entering a new bacterial cell. But what I […]
Finally. We’ve now arrived at a critical point in the journey of a laterally transferred gene. It has successfully entered a new bacterial cell, delivered by a mobile genetic element. Although this might seem like a triumph in itself, it’s only just the beginning. But before we get to that, it’s worth remembering that bacterial […]
Building on my last post, where I talked about how some genes move more easily between bacteria than others, I want to take a closer look into the vehicles that make this movement happen: the fascinating mobile genetic elements, or MGEs. They play a huge role in microbial life, and honestly, they’re one of the […]
When we last left off, we were exploring the tangled web of microbial evolution, where not all genes stay where they’re ‘supposed’ to, thanks to lateral gene transfer (LGT). This gene flow has been crucial in allowing bacteria to gain new traits from unrelated bacteria in their environment and not just from their direct ancestors. […]
In my previous blog posts, I’ve written about how marine microbes shape the oceans, how we struggle to grow some in labs, and why they matter more than we often realize. This time, I want to explore something deeper, and how they challenged the very way we understood evolution itself. When we think about evolution, […]
“If you can’t grow them, you can’t study them.” This was the reality for early microbiologists. Traditional microbiology relies on culturing: a process that involves isolating microbes, recreating their ideal environmental conditions in petri dishes or flasks, and feeding them specific nutrients to coax them into growing. This helps us understand their biology, behavior, and […]
Have you ever stood on a beach, gazed at the vast blue ocean, and wondered what lurks beneath the surface? Maybe you envision different-colored fish, or even deep-sea creatures like the bioluminescent anglerfish, rarely seen in shallow waters but recently spotted near Spain. Or perhaps you think of sharks, thanks to Jaws. We often focus […]
