{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"484: Bacteriophages Boost Brains","description":"This episode: Certain phages in the gut are linked with increases in performance on some cognitive tests! Download Episode (7.5 MB, 10.9 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces bikiniensis News item Takeaways Our gut microbiota includes a large number of viruses, mostly bacteriophages. These fall into two groups, the lytic kind that infects and reproduces itself immediately in a host, and the lysogenic kind that can integrate its genome into the host bacterial genome and remain dormant for long periods. In this study, a higher proportion of lysogenic phages was correlated with increased performance on cognitive tests in multiple species. In humans, men showed a small increase in some tests and women in others. In mice and fruit flies, transplant or ingestion of phages was linked to increased memory performance.   Journal Paper: Mayneris-Perxachs J, Castells-Nobau A, Arnoriaga-Rodr\u00edguez M, Garre-Olmo J, Puig J, Ramos R, Mart\u00ednez-Hern\u00e1ndez F, Burokas A, Coll C, Moreno-Navarrete JM, Zapata-Tona C, Pedraza S, P\u00e9rez-Brocal V, Rami\u00f3-Torrent\u00e0 L, Ricart W, Moya A, Mart\u00ednez-Garc\u00eda M, Maldonado R, Fern\u00e1ndez-Real J-M. 2022. Caudovirales bacteriophages are associated with improved executive function and memory in flies, mice, and humans. Cell Host Microbe 30:340-356.e8. Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook. ","author_name":"BacterioFiles","author_url":"https:\/\/www.asm.org\/bacteriofiles","html":"