Editor’s Selections: Having your coat and eating it too, buck-teria, and the five-second rule
April 1st, 2011 Editor's Selections 2 CommentsVincent Racaniello selects several notable posts each week from molecular and cellular biology and virology. He unravels viruses at virology blog.
- Dermamoeba wears a thick, heavy coat that poses problems when the amoebae engulf prey. The solution is that Dermamoeba nibbles on its coat before a meal.
- It’s well known that currency can be tainted with illicit drugs. But bank notes and coins also carry a variety of microbes, including fungi and bacteria (Staphylococcus, Klebsiella, E. coli, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Micrococcus, and Bacillus), some of which are resistant to antibiotics.
- In a test of the well-known five second rule, bread and bologna were dropped onto Salmonella-contaminated surfaces for five seconds. For wood and tile surfaces, the five second rule does not apply, but bologna picks up more bacteria with increasing time on carpet.
I’ll be back next Friday with more selections.