By Angie Orellana Hernandez, CNN
Research has revealed that an everyday kitchen item is a better environment for many different types of bacteria than any petri dish in a laboratory.
A common sponge’s spatial partitioning — the way it’s divided into different sectors of various sizes — caters to bacteria that prefer isolated environments and those that prefer to be around other organisms, making it the best of both worlds for microbial communities, According to a recent study published in Nature Chemical Biology. Bacteria that thrive in secluded spaces, like the smaller pores of a sponge, won’t “bully” other organisms for room, while the sponge’s bigger wells allow for microbes that depend on the presence of others to survive.
“It’s just like we are going to parties and there are individuals who will really enjoy having huge room interactions with a lot of people, and it will draw energy from that,” said the study’s senior author Lingchong You, professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University in North Carolina. “But there are also individuals who feel like they want to be in a smaller environment.”
These results may help to understand why your kitchen sponge is a breeding ground for germs. However the purpose of this research was to develop a method to engineer diverse microbial communities capable of producing chemicals of medicinal or technological value.
Home sweet home
Researchers tested E.coli presence and density in two different ways to arrive at these results. They used plates with different degrees of spatial partitioning. These ranged from six to 1,536 isolated holes. The plates revealed that the amount of space division had an impact on the type of bacteria that thrives best.
Researchers then conducted another experiment using a kitchen sponge as well as a tube. The results revealed that in a sponge, there are “60% more diverse members than in a well-mixed environment,” You said, referencing the compacted habitat bacteria are in when placed inside a tube.
“The degree of this spatial partitioning plays a critical role in maintaining the microbial community diversity,” You said. “And it could be that the optimal degree of partitioning also depends on the nature of interactions in a particular community (of bacteria).”
They found that environments that have both large chambers and small wells can support diverse microbial communities.
Because sponges are a “perfect growth environment for microbes,” You recommended that consumers be “mindful” and replace their sponges on a periodic basis or find a way to disinfect them. According to a recommendation from a, sponges should be changed on a weekly basis.Scientific Reports published a 2017 study. To sterilize bacteria on sponges use theUnited States Department of Agriculture suggestsConsumers use microwave heating and dishwashing with an air drying cycle.
The results provide an understanding of the microbial point of view where “distances and spaces are dramatically different” from a human’s point of view, said Slava Epstein, a professor of microbiology at Northeastern University, who was not involved with the study. Epstein stated that researchers can better understand the impact of scale on microbial interactions by studying the distance between cells. This distance is measured in microns.
Nature’s microbiological communities
Epstein added that a “natural extension” of this research would be to examine the role of spatial partitioning in nature, such as how bacteria work in soil, since the bacteria used in the study were grown artificially and controlled by researchers.
“Working with well plates clearly indicates a very significant role in the size of compartments they can grow and whether or not there is a separation between such compartments,” Epstein said. “Once we know this, it gives you ammunition and drive to go after actual natural communities.”
Although the study does not prove spatial partitioning’s effect on natural microbial communities, You said that he is optimistic that the results will remain consistent. Although researchers are interested in trying out natural microbial communities, You said that bacteria need to learn to live with one another first.
“One member will control one step of the pathway, another member will control another step of the pathway,” You said. “But in order for this to work, they will need to co-exist, so we need to maintain their diversity, and then we’re using this partitioned environment, precisely to help maintain different members.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
