In the Company of Microbes. Moselio Schaechter
Читать онлайн книгу.
minded our using a name derived from theirs. They said that they were actually pleased.
This blog began in 2006. Blog years are indeed like dog years, and a decade is a long time. This milestone is worth celebrating, I think. We (and I will explain the “we” right away) have been at it assiduously for all this time and, miraculously, have not missed a single one of the scheduled postings. These have been bi-weekly, Monday being devoted to longer items, Thursday to brief ones such as Talmudic Questions, Pictures Considered, or Terms of Biology. Sometime last September we reached 1000 posts, and we still doggedly continue to produce them at our habitual pace.
The “we” refers to the team that has been working with me for much of this time. Merry Youle joined me in this effort almost immediately after its inception. In the course of time, we became partners and for several years shared the responsibility for writing most of the posts, pitilessly editing each other’s drafts. From this emerged a comradely friendship that continues to this day. In time, we asked others to join us, making for an interactive and productive team. The current members are Daniel Haeusser, Jamie Henzy, Gemma Reguera, and Christoph Weigel. I must mention Marvin Friedman, who would still be contributing a post a month were he still with us. Early on, I opened the pages of this blog to others, especially graduate students, who, I reckoned, could benefit from the experience. I am glad that blogging by students has become a widespread activity elsewhere. Others, including notable people in the field, have presented their thoughts and opinions in STC. Nowadays most of the blog items are indeed authored by folks outside our inner group, and the choice of articles for this book reflects that.
This book was started by a prompt from Chris. For this collection I scanned our archives and focused on material that one could broadly call musings—reflections on personal and historical interactions between the writers and microbes. A few of the pieces included fall outside this scope and are mostly about unusual discoveries. Why did I not opt for more science-oriented stuff? Two reasons: one is that their appeal would be narrower; the other is that such material becomes rapidly dated. And besides, wouldn’t you want to hear what questions and puzzles still animate microbiologists, what they think about both the past and the future of the field?
Our 1000 posts have garnered some two million views. I guess that’s something to brag about, but more to the point is the enjoyment that this effort has brought me. I have always had something of a naturalistic bone in my body. Being obliged to work at the bench, pleasurable though it has been, kept me from relishing the small wonders that are “out there,” where there is a never-ending pageant of astounding variations on the theme of microbial life. In old age, such hankerings are to be indulged and such wanderings to be treasured. They help provide answers to some of the eternal questions that I (and you too, dear reader) have been asking intermittently since adolescence. So, my deepest thanks to all who have given me this jewel of an opportunity but most of all, to the small things that are waiting to be considered.
Elio Schaechter
October 2015
San Diego, California, USA
Acknowledgments
My thanks go to all who have contributed to the blog over the years and have helped make exciting stories accessible to a wide public. I single out Merry Youle, who was my partner for several years and a friend. She helped me in every way imaginable, from the choice of topics, to doing the wisest of editing, to providing me with a moral compass, to holding my hand (at a distance, as she lives in Hawaii, I in California). I thank my other collaborators on this endeavor: Gemma Reguera, Daniel Haussler, Jamie Henzy, and, early on, Mark Martin and Welkin Johnson. Christoph Weigel needs to be acknowledged in a special way for his extraordinary contributions to both the blog’s content and format. Also, I thank the late Marvin Friedman who, for many years, was another faithful contributor. All these persons did more than supply material: they participated in thinking about ways this blog could better fulfill its purpose. They have all done it with verve, passion, and great insights. I have been very lucky indeed.
I thank the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) for sponsoring the blog, especially the Communications staff directed by Erika Shugart. Chris Condayan generously and imaginatively supported this effort from the very beginning and has been a source of help and encouragement ever since. Andréa Gwartney did a superb job dealing with the layout and organization of the material. Ray Ortega later took charge of producing each issue of the blog, using a keen eye and warm heart in order to achieve this blog’s intended purposes. All of these persons have treated their work as a labor of love.
I thank my wife, Edith, for her support. She is not a scientist but has played a huge role in everything else it takes to carry out such an activity. I also thank my daughter Judith for allowing me to use her drawings. She is a renowned stained glass artist whose doodles are often of imaginary protists and diatoms. I never expected to see both our names on the cover of the same book.
What do we mean by a Talmudic Question?
The term is borrowed, loosely and perhaps inappropriately, to describe questions whose answers cannot be found by a Google search. In most cases, the questions don’t have ready answers but are intended to provoke thought and discussion. We don’t aim to be disrespectful of the old and venerable tradition of the Talmudic Method.
Old TQs never expire. They remain open for you to add your own response. A link or URL is provided for each TQ in the book, or you can search for them by number, e.g., “question #73” for TQ #73. Warning! Once started, you may be tempted to explore the many TQs left, by necessity, out of the book.
PART 1
The View from Here
I invited experienced microbiologists to share some of their musings, and I added a few of my own.
1
Of Ancient Curses, Microbes, and the ASM
by Bonnie L. Bassler
On July 1, 2010, when I started my term as ASM president, I was reminded of three ominous curses of dubious ancient origin:
1. May you live in interesting times.
2. May you come to the attention of those in authority.
3. May you find what you are seeking.
May you live in interesting times: Clearly, these times qualify. Microbes will be at the heart of solutions to our most pressing problems: the environment, food, energy, and health. The BP oil spill began on day –79 of my term. Microbes are coming to the rescue, and ASM expertise is on the scene Let us hope that lessons have been learned. In his inauguration address, President Obama promised to “restore science to its rightful place.” It may be happening. The National Academy of Science’s Board on Life Sciences recently released its report: A New Biology for the Twenty-First Century. The US Cabinet Secretaries of Energy and Agriculture requested a series of workshops to discuss how to implement the new biology. A first workshop, focused on food and fuel, was held in DC last month, and I was invited to participate (day –27 of my term). Workshop members were asked to develop scientific challenges for the decade to be proposed to Congress for funding. Together with several other ASM members in attendance, I strongly advocated the understanding and appropriate use of microbes to synthesize new fuels, clean up the environment, optimize crop production, etc. Our rallying sound bite: microbes, the world’s only unlimited renewable resource!
May you come to the attention of those in authority: On May 20, with quite some fanfare, Science published a manuscript: Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome. On that same day (day –42 of my term) the ASM Public and Scientific Advisory Board (PSAB) released a position