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
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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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. Bassler2 On the Evolution of the Genetic Code Charles Yanofsky3 Microbes Touch Everything Tim Donohue4 Getting a Handle on Cell Organization Franklin M. Harold5 The Age of Imaging Elio6 Bacillus subtilis: Wild and Tame Richard Losick7 The Tyranny of Phylogeny: An Exhortation Elio8 Virus in the Room Welkin Johnson9 Feynman Said “Just Look at the Thing!” Jan Spitzer10 Self-Assembly For Me Elio11 On the Definition of Prokaryotes Nanne Nanninga12 The Microbial Nature of Humans Maureen O’Malley13 Good Writing Beats Bad Writing, Most Any Day Elio14 Finally, Farewell to “Stamp Collecting”... Christoph Weigel
7 Part 2: Accounts of the Past15 Esther Lederberg: Pioneer of Bacterial Genetics Mercé Piqueras16 How Proteomics Got Started Fred Neidhardt17 Did van Leeuwenhoek Observe Yeast Cells in 1680? Nanne Nanninga18 The Louse and the Vaccine Elio19 The Ten-Minute Leeuwenhoek Microscope Patrick Keeling20 Microbiology in the Andes: Ancient and Unexpected Elio21 Dr. Rous’s Prize-Winning Chicken Welkin Johnson22 The Two Quantitative Steps in the Biology Growth Curve Elio23 A Tale of Centenarians Claudio Schazzocchio24 A Failed Experiment Elio25 “Microbe Hunters” by Paul DeKruif: A Major Force in Microbiological History Elio26 Fecal Transplants in the “Good Old Days” Stanley Falkow27 Requiem for a Machine Elio28 Mad Dogs and Microbiologists William C. Summers29 Joshua Lederberg and the “Cellularity” of Bacteria Elio
8 Part 3: Small Wonders30 Where Art Thou, O Nucleoid? Conrad Woldringh31 Teaching E. coli to Endocytose Elio32 The Awesomest Thing in Biology Elio33 Let’s Not Forget Acetabularia Elio34 The Fastest Flights in Nature Elio35 Fungal Alchemy: Using Radiation as a Source of Energy Elio36 Arms and the Fungus Elio37 Bacterial Hopanoids: The Lipids That Last Forever Elio38 A Bacterium Learns Long Division Nanne Nanninga39 Commuting to Work Elio
9 Part 4: On Being a Microbiologist40 Directed Science, Curiosity-Driven Science, and Striking the Balance Jeff F. Miller41 The Gender Bias of Science Faculty Vincent Racaniello42 The Excitement of Clinical Microbiology Elio43 The Bacterial Chromosome: A Physical Biologist’s Apology. A Perspective Suckjoon Jun44 Whose Planet Is It Anyway? Elio45 If Microbes Could Tweet... Daniel P. Haeusser46 State Microbes Elio47 Recalling the Good in the Good Old Days Elio48 The Attendee’s Guide to Scientific Meetings Julian Davies
10 Part 5: Personal Notes49 The Encyclopedia and I Elio50 The Guild Elio51 The Magasanik Paradox Elio
11 Part 6: The Ways of Microbes52 The Parvome Julian Davies53 The World Is Pleiotropic Elio54 Constructing a Synthetic Mycoplasma Shmuel Razin55 By Chance and Necessity: The Role of the Cytoskeleton in the
