Moselio Schaechter - In the Company of Microbes

Elio Schaechter

Artwork by Judith Schaechter

In theCompanyof Microbes

Ten Years of

Small ThingsConsidered

Copyright © 2016 American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part or reused in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Schaechter, Moselio, editor. | Schaechter, Judith, 1961- illustrator.

Title: In the company of microbes : ten years of Small Things Considered / edited by Elio Schaechter ; artwork by Judith Schaechter.

Description: Washington, DC : ASM Press, [2016] | ?2016 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016011177 | ISBN 9781555819590 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781683673248 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Microbiology–Blogs. | Microorganisms–Blogs.

Classification: LCC QR56 .I5 2016 | DDC 576--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016011177

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Cover image:Judith Schaechter Design:Lou Moriconi

In theCompanyof Microbes

Ten Years of

Small Things Considered

Table of Contents

1 Contributors

2 Introduction

3 Preface

4 Acknowledgments

5 What Do We Mean by a Talmudic Question?

6 Part 1: The View from Here1 Of Ancient Curses, Microbes, and the ASM Bonnie L. Bassler 2 On the Evolution of the Genetic Code Charles Yanofsky 3 Microbes Touch Everything Tim Donohue 4 Getting a Handle on Cell Organization Franklin M. Harold 5 The Age of Imaging Elio 6 Bacillus subtilis: Wild and Tame Richard Losick 7 The Tyranny of Phylogeny: An Exhortation Elio 8 Virus in the Room Welkin Johnson 9 Feynman Said “Just Look at the Thing!” Jan Spitzer 10 Self-Assembly For Me Elio 11 On the Definition of Prokaryotes Nanne Nanninga 12 The Microbial Nature of Humans Maureen O’Malley 13 Good Writing Beats Bad Writing, Most Any Day Elio 14 Finally, Farewell to “Stamp Collecting”... Christoph Weigel

7 Part 2: Accounts of the Past15 Esther Lederberg: Pioneer of Bacterial Genetics Mercé Piqueras 16 How Proteomics Got Started Fred Neidhardt 17 Did van Leeuwenhoek Observe Yeast Cells in 1680? Nanne Nanninga 18 The Louse and the Vaccine Elio 19 The Ten-Minute Leeuwenhoek Microscope Patrick Keeling 20 Microbiology in the Andes: Ancient and Unexpected Elio 21 Dr. Rous’s Prize-Winning Chicken Welkin Johnson 22 The Two Quantitative Steps in the Biology Growth Curve Elio 23 A Tale of Centenarians Claudio Schazzocchio 24 A Failed Experiment Elio 25 “Microbe Hunters” by Paul DeKruif: A Major Force in Microbiological History Elio 26 Fecal Transplants in the “Good Old Days” Stanley Falkow 27 Requiem for a Machine Elio 28 Mad Dogs and Microbiologists William C. Summers 29 Joshua Lederberg and the “Cellularity” of Bacteria Elio

8 Part 3: Small Wonders30 Where Art Thou, O Nucleoid? Conrad Woldringh 31 Teaching E. coli to Endocytose Elio 32 The Awesomest Thing in Biology Elio 33 Let’s Not Forget Acetabularia Elio 34 The Fastest Flights in Nature Elio 35 Fungal Alchemy: Using Radiation as a Source of Energy Elio 36 Arms and the Fungus Elio 37 Bacterial Hopanoids: The Lipids That Last Forever Elio 38 A Bacterium Learns Long Division Nanne Nanninga 39 Commuting to Work Elio

9 Part 4: On Being a Microbiologist40 Directed Science, Curiosity-Driven Science, and Striking the Balance Jeff F. Miller 41 The Gender Bias of Science Faculty Vincent Racaniello 42 The Excitement of Clinical Microbiology Elio 43 The Bacterial Chromosome: A Physical Biologist’s Apology. A Perspective Suckjoon Jun 44 Whose Planet Is It Anyway? Elio 45 If Microbes Could Tweet... Daniel P. Haeusser 46 State Microbes Elio 47 Recalling the Good in the Good Old Days Elio 48 The Attendee’s Guide to Scientific Meetings Julian Davies

10 Part 5: Personal Notes49 The Encyclopedia and I Elio 50 The Guild Elio 51 The Magasanik Paradox Elio

11 Part 6: The Ways of Microbes52 The Parvome Julian Davies 53 The World Is Pleiotropic Elio 54 Constructing a Synthetic Mycoplasma Shmuel Razin 55 By Chance and Necessity: The Role of the Cytoskeleton in the Genesis of Eukaryotes Daniel P. Haeusser 56 The Gram Stain: Its Persistence and Its Quirks Elio 57 On the Continuity of Biological Membranes Franklin M. Harold 58 Energetics of the Eukaryotic Edge Franklin M. Harold 59 The Road to Microbial Endocrinology Mark Lyte 60 Begetting the Eukarya: An Unexpected Light Franklin M. Harold 61 The Higgs Boson and Biology Elio 62 The Power of Fungal Genetics: Cassava for Food Security and Sustainability in Colombia Chris CondayanPeter Geoghan 63 Why Is It So Hard to Make an HIV Vaccine? John Coffin 64 Measuring Up Jamie Henzy