Matters Microbial #103: Giant Bacteria and Bigger Questions
From Matters Microbial · 01:04:01
Show by Mark O. Martin
Matters Microbial #103: Giant Bacteria and Bigger Questions August 14, 2025 Today, Dr. Jean-Marie Volland, Assistant Professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the discovery and analysis of the (so far) largest bacterium known: Thiomargarita magnifica, which can be a centimeter long! Definitely #OMG and #WTM! Host: Mark O. Martin Guest: Jean-Marie Vollard Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify Become a patron of Matters Microbial! Links for this episode Here is a review article discussing the environmental persistence of antibiotic resistance genes. Here is a link to Episode 41 of this podcast, with Dr. Esther Angert, on the wily ways of Epulopiscium. A review article regarding "giant bacteria." A video explaining the surface area versus volume issue discussed on this podcast. An interesting article exploring how much "territory" is within a bacterial cell; this is relevant to bacterial polyploidy. A review of Epulopiscium, the first of the giant bacteria described. Here is a video of Epulopisicum. An article describing polyploidy in Epulopiscium. A review of Thiomargarita nambiensis, another giant bacterium with an interesting strategy. Here is a video of T. nambiensis. An essay from "Small Things Considered" about the very, very strange world of Achromatium, which is so worth your time. The first report of Thiomargarita magnifica, the world's largest bacterium (thus far) by Dr. Volland and coauthors. Here is a report on this discovery for novice micronauts. A great review about giant microbes by Dr. Volland. A more recent article on T. magnifica by Dr. Volland and colleagues. A video regarding T. magnifica. A video by Dr. Volland describing T. magnifica work. A lovely essay regarding how Dr. Volland and family trekked California searching for giant microbes. Don't miss! The research lab website for Dr. Volland and colleagues, with so much interesting information. The faculty website for Dr. Volland at UC Santa Barbara. Intro music is by Reber Clark
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