By Angie Orellana Hernandez, CNN
CNN — An everyday item in your kitchen is a better home for many diverse types of bacteria than a petri dish in a laboratory, new research revealed.
A common sponge’s spatial division — the way it’s divided in different sizes into different sections — caters to bacteria who prefer to be alone and those who prefer to be around other organisms. This makes it the best of both the worlds for microbial communities according to a study published in Nature Chemical Biology. Because of the sponge’s smaller pores, bacteria that thrives in secluded areas won’t “bully” other organisms to get more space. Meanwhile, the sponge’s larger wells allow microbes that are dependent on each other to survive.
Lingchong You from Duke University in North Carolina, senior author of the study, said, “It’s like we’re going to parties. There are individuals who really enjoy having large-scale interactions with lots of people. And it will draw energy form that.” “But there are also individuals that feel they need to be in smaller environments.”
The results may help you understand why your sponge is a habitat for germs. However, the goal of this research is to create diverse microbial communities that can produce medicinal or biotechnologically valuable chemicals.
Home sweet home
Researchers tested E.coli presence and density in two different ways to arrive at these results. They used plates with varied spatial partitioning levels, from six to 1,536 isolated water wells. The plates revealed that bacteria thrives in areas with high levels of division.
Researchers then conducted another experiment using a kitchen sponge as well as a tube. The results showed that sponges have 60% more diverse members than those in well-mixed environments.
You said that spatial partitioning is crucial for maintaining diversity in microbial communities. “And it could also be that the optimal degree partitioning depends on the nature (of bacteria) of interactions in a particular community.
They concluded that environments with a mixture of small wells and large chambers are the best for diverse microbial communities.
You recommend that sponges be replaced on a regular basis, or that they are disinfected as they provide a perfect environment for microbes to grow. According to Scientific Reports, it is recommended that sponges should be replaced on a weekly schedule. The United States Department of Agriculture recommends that sponges be sterilized using microwave heating and dishwashing with a drying cycle.
The results allow us to understand the microbial point-of-view where “distances or spaces are dramatically different” from humans’s view. This was said by Slava Epstein (a professor of microbiology at Northeastern University), who was not involved in this study. Epstein stated that by measuring the distance between cells in microns, researchers can better understand how scale affects microbial interactions.
Nature’s microbiological communities
Epstein stated that this research could be extended to study the role of spatial division in nature. For example, Epstein said that the study used bacteria grown artificially and controlled in laboratory.
Epstein stated, “Working in well plates clearly indicates that they play a very important role in the size and separation of these compartments.” This knowledge gives you the ammunition and drive to pursue actual natural communities.
Although the study does not prove spatial partitioning’s effect on natural microbial communities, You stated that he is confident that the results will remain consistent. Researchers are interested in working with natural microbial communities. However, You stated that these bacteria must first learn to live together.
You said, “One member will be in charge of one step of this pathway, and another member in charge of another.” “But for this to work, they must co-exist. We need to keep their diversity. Then we use this partitioned environment precisely to help maintain different member.”
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
