Biopedia

We’re all familiar with the platypus, but it still has surprises up its sleeve. On the podcast today, we get to know its bumper-sized cousin- Obdurodon tharalkooschild.

Sources for this episode: 1) Pian, R., Archer, M. And Hand, S. J. (2013), A new, giant platypus, Obdurodon tharalkooschild, sp. nov. (Monotremata, Ornithorhynchidae), from the Riversleigh, World Heritage Area, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(6): 1255- 1259. 2)Dell’Amore, C., National Geographic (2013), Giant Platypus Found, Shakes Up Evolutionary Tree (online) [Accessed 17/11/2020, 11:36 am].

Killer whales are an icon of the world’s oceans. However, genetic studies show that they haven’t always been doing so well- especially during the last Ice Age. What’s the story? And what relevance does the millennia-old plight of the orca have today? On the podcast today, we’re going to use a genetic study from 2014 to explore just that.

Sources for this episode: 1) Moura, A. E. et al (2014), Killer Whale Nuclear Genome and mtDNA Reveal Widespread Population Bottleneck during the Last Glacial Maximum. Molecular Biology and Evolution 31(5): 1121- 1131. 2) General dates for some of the geological epochs discussed are widely available and can be found at sources such as Wikipedia.

A small housekeeping note: the lamellipodium episode is taking longer than expected and so has had to be pushed back a bit until November 25th (episode 10).

On the podcast today, we cover the concept of localised mRNA, which can be relevant to cell polarity.

Source for this episode: 1) Martin, K. C. And Ephrussi, A. (2009), mRNA Localisation: Gene Expression in the Spatial Dimension. Cell 136: 719- 730.

Antibiotic resistance we’ve all heard of by now, but what about antibiotic persistence? Join us as we explore the phenomenon of persistence, which allows bacterial infections to reappear even after antibiotic treatment. And all while being genetically identical to their susceptible neighbours!

Sources: 1) Wiley, J. M., Sherwood, L. M. and Woolverton, C. J. (2017), Prescott’s microbiology, 10th edition (International Edition), New York, McGraw-Hill Education, p.150, p.188. 2) Fisher, R. A., Gollan, B. and Helanie, S. (2017), Persistent bacterial infections and persister cells. Nature Reviews Microbiology 15: 453- 464. 3) Balaban, N. Q., Helanie, S., Lewis, K., Ackermann, M., Aldridge, B., Andersson, D. I., Brynildsen, M. P., Bumann, D., Camilli, A., Collins, J. J., Dehio, C., Fortune, S., Ghigo, J.-M., Hardt, W.-D., Harms, A., Heinemann, M., Hung, D. T., Jenal, U., Levin, B. R., Michiels, J., Storz, G., Tan, M.-W., Tenson, T., Van Melderen, L., Zinkernagel, A. (2019), Definitions and guidelines for research on antibiotic persistence. Nature Reviews 17: 441- 448. 3) Some of this discussion is also based on my prior education on the topic.

It is common knowledge that bees as a whole are declining as a result of climate change. But what about individual species? On the podcast today, we cover a 2019 paper which predicted that the Australian small carpenter bee, Ceratina australensis, might go against this trend….

Source for this episode: 1) Dew, R. N., Silva, D. P. And Rehan, S. M. (2019), Range expansion of an already widespread bee under climate change. Global Ecology and Conservation 17 (2019): e00584.

An example of the GTPase content we discussed last time. Specifically, we look at the diploid mating of baker’s yeast in stressful environments.

Source for this episode: 1) Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition, p.1044. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. This episode builds on content covered in episode 3, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t listened to it already.

On the podcast today, we scratch the surface of cell polarity and how enzymes known as GTPases are linked to this process. Some subjects are mentioned which will be covered again in future episodes- links in the description when this is the case.

Sources for this episode: 1) Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition.2) Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition, Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC. 2) Thain, M. And Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group. 3) Some of this discussion is also based on my prior education on the topic.

It’s genetics time! Back in 2012, a skeleton was unearthed in a car park in Leicester, which was later positively identified as Richard III of England. But how? Join us as we delve into how genetics cracked a 500 year old case wide open…

Sources for this episode: 1) King, T. E., Fortes, G. G., Balaresque, P. Thomas, M. G., Balding, D., Delser, P. M., Neumann, R., Parson, W., Knapp, M., Walsh, S., Tonasso, L., Holt, J., Kayser, M., Appleby, J., Forster, P., Ekserdjian, D., Hofreiter, M., and Schürer, K. (2014), Identification of the remains of King Richard III. Nature Communications 5:5631, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6631. 2) Shakespeare, W., Richard The Third (play), Act 1, Scene 3. 3) Author unknown, BBC news (2015), Richard III: Leicester Cathedral reburial service for king (online) [Accessed 29/10/2020]. 4) Author unknown, BBC (2018), ‘The discovery of Richard III’s skeleton changed my life’ (online) [Accessed 29/10/2020].

Welcome to our first proper episode! This week, we tackle the problem of biofilms- an extracellular matrix which can protect the species inside it and is a source of frustration to doctors and dentists alike.

Sources for this episode: 1) Thain, M. And Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group (p.79). 2) Lopez, D. Vlamakis, H. And Kolter, R. (2010), Biofilms. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology 2(7): a000398. 3) Wiley, J. M., Sherwood, L. M. And Woolverton, C. J. (2017), Prescott’s Microbiology, 10th edition (International Edition). New York, McGraw-Hill Education. 4) Short, F. L., Murdoch, S. L. And Ryan, R. P. (2014), Polybacterial human disease: the ills of social networking.

Welcome to Biopedia! This episode is a bit of an explanation as to who I am, what the podcast is all about and some caveats about my schedule.