Here's my summary of the third day of ASM2013, wherein I met with neat people and ideas.

May20.mp3">Download Episode (4.3 MB, 4.6 minutes)

Session 1: Microbe-Microbe Interactions - Cell Contact-Dependent Outer Membrane Exchange in Myxobacteria Presented by wall.html">Dan Wall Myxobacteria are super cool, a fascinating example of complex cooperative behavior in relatively simple single-celled organisms. They swarm around eating other bacteria until they get low on food, at which point they gather together to form reproductive structures called fruiting bodies to spread to new environments. As part of the mechanism they use to coordinate their activity and distinguish between friends and foes, they seem to exchange components of their outer membrane, but only with closely-related strains. Poster: 1485 - Understanding the Syntrophic Metabolism of a Bacterial Co-culture for Hydrogen Production (Combination of Clostridium cellulolyticum and Rhodopseudomonas palustris to convert cellulosic plant material into hydrogen) Y. Jiao, A. Navid, B. Stewart, J. McKinlay, M. Thelen, J. Pett-Ridge Poster: 1702 - Non-Photosynthetic, Deep-Branching Cyanobacteria of the Human Gut and Subsurface Permit Inference of the Cyanobacterial Ancestor S.C. Di Rienzi, I. Sharon, K.C. Wrighton, O. Koren, L.A. Hug, B.C. Thomas, J.K. Goodrich, J.T. Bell, T.D. Spector, J.F. Banfield, R.E. Ley

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