The American Academy of Microbiology has just announced the release of its newest colloquium report, The Uncharted Microbial World: Microbes and their Activities in the Environment. This report, based on a series of discussions by experts in the field of microbiology, explores the mysteries of the microbial world.
It makes for very good reading
This brought Roger Stanier's ELASTICOTAXIS observations to mind. The individual who wrote ought to be told of this phenomenon! In addition, when I saw the several comments about being amazed by unusual aspects of bacteria I was reminded of the late Jackson Foster's paraphrasing of the Ladies Home Journal's "motto"--Never Underestimate the Power of the Microbe. He used it quite often, and it seems more apt than ever!
Posted by: ed leadbetter | February 29, 2008 at 12:08 PM
John,
I can't say that I have seen this phenomenon, but perhaps I was good at throwing out my used plates before they dried out! Perhaps someone else reading this can help.
Elio
Posted by: elio schaechter | February 20, 2008 at 05:01 PM
Do they write about nanobacteria?
I have a question...
I noticed a contaminated plate in my incubator. This foreign yellow microorganism seemed to follow a crack in the agar (the plate was old). I thought that was interesting.
So I got a plate and put a series of cuts into the agar from one side of the plate to the other, then streaked perpendicular to the cuts at one side of the plate. Sure enough, the yellow microorganism followed the cuts away from the streaks. In fact, it looked like they formed colonies along the streak. I assume they are following a moisture gradient. Have you ever seen anything like that or know what microorganism this might be?
Posted by: John Dennehy | February 20, 2008 at 02:16 PM