🚨 Very excited to finally say… 🚨 The story of Noodlococcus - the contaminant that started ContamClub - is available to read 📖🍜🦠 Check it out ➡️ https://t.co/vZgaOPjKWo 1/15 🧵

Hello Little friends..

First SP4 bottle to join the @ContamClub in my career. Well played, mold

Noodlococcus was the contaminant we discovered on August 9th 2019, leading to the creation of ContamClub as a celebration of interesting contams! 🦠 Investigation of Noodlococcus resulted in some interesting findings about the Kocuria genus. Full story available as a preprint ⤵️

Happy Noodlococcus day to all those who celebrate! 🍜🧫🦠 We’re in 3 different continents now but all celebrating the 6th anniversary of the discovery of our noodle-y friend by eating some delicious noodles @pRobM91 @StanleyHoBio @GEMcCallum

Another beautiful contamination today! It looks like a small volcano 🌋 @ContamClub @UoBbiosciences

@ContamClub some flowers bloom in summer (and in LB with kanamycin + ampicillin)... Found by @Alix_Lee38

Garum de hongos con otro hongo? @ContamClub

When things go wrong, there is always a silver lining. How beautiful are contaminations? ❤️ @ContamClub #microbiology #science #AcademicTwitter

Labmate found this growing in autoclaved YPD (!) and it is now our new lab mascot. Just kidding, it’s gotten the bleach treatment it deserves. I think this qualifies @ContamClub

Peptone water at 0.1 % @ContamClub

#DescribeThatMicrobe Summer labs are in full swing as are demo plates with handprints! #Microbiology #SciComm @ASMicrobiology @ContamClub

My contamination is contaminated! @ContamClub

15/15 We’re so glad to finally have this out there, it has been a fun side project for us alongside our research since we discovered Noodlococcus in 2019 Hope you enjoy reading! Check it out at ⤵��� https://t.co/vZgaOPjKWo

14/15 All of these results came about from investigating a cool-looking contaminant. The Noodlococcus genome and our large-scale genomic evaluation can serve as a baseline for future studies into the distribution, diversity, and evolution of this ubiquitous species 🦠

13/15 The oldest strain in the K. pseudorhizophila strain was first isolated by William A. Randall in a 1949 publication, so we suggest that an appropriate species name for the K. pseudorhizophila clade would be Kocuria randallii

12/15 The lack of indication that these strains are genetically distinct from the reference genome for K. rhizophila may lead to conflicting results and inaccurate conclusions For example, this product is derived from a strain present in the K. pseudorhizophila clade ⤵️

11/15 Distinguishing these clades has important implications for the use of K. rhizophila strains as controls in research and industry There are several strains available in culture collections, with some located in the true K. rhizophila clade and some in K. pseudorhizophila 😵‍💫

10/15 Pan-fried noodles: pangenomic analysis of K. rhizophila showed clear clade-specific distinctions, adding weight to the argument that they should be separate species 🍳

9/15 All other Kocuria species had inter-species ANI values inline with the typical threshold of >95%. Splitting the two clades into separate species would maintain taxonomic consistency within the genus

8/15 Type strain TA68 and Noodlococcus were located in the same clade, which represents the true K. rhizophila Other commonly used reference strains were located in the other clade, which we called “K. pseudorhizophila” 🥸