Short Fun Fact List

There are about 5000000000000000000000000000000 (5x10^30) bacteria on earth.
Bacteria were first discovered by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1676.



Bacteria come in a wide variety of shapes.


 Colony of E. coli.

This is not exactly a reliable source, but it provides an impetus for research:

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/do_bacteria_talk_maybe_their_own_way-87587

"First, we should give thanks for microbes because they are intricately involved in digestion. The human diet is very complex -- we take in a plethora of plant and animal products. In order to digest many of these foods, we must rely on the tools that bacteria have at their disposal. While an individual species may only be able to use its tool to help digest one particular carbohydrate, the collective bacterial community comprises a large and diverse toolkit that can break down the smorgasbord of food we eat into usable energy.
Interesting work from the Jeffrey Gordon Lab at Washington University in St. Louis has shown that different groups of microbes are present in the guts of obese and lean twins1. Based on this finding, an ongoing area of research is to understand the connection between your microbial consortium, how it extracts energy from the food you eat and how this could be tied to obesity or leanness. Ultimately, a better understanding of these processes can possible lead to modulating your microbial communities to avert obesity (or diabetes, which microbes are believed to play a part in as well).
Furthermore, let's give thanks for our microbial friends because they play an essential role in the development of our immune system. Ever since birth, we are inoculated with microbes (thanks, Mom!). One of the most important functions of these microbes is to help the immune system mature and become fully functional. Studies in germ-free mice show that mice without their normal bacterial members suffer from a dysfunctional immune system2. An important area of focus is to understand how your immune system discriminates between foreign bacteria (e.g. E. coli in the last column) and the bacteria that are naturally present in your gut. This difference is important because it will give us basic knowledge of how our immune system discriminates friend from foe.
Lastly, let's say thanks to our microbial cooperators because of our mutual self-interest. In biology we call a relationship between two organisms that benefit both as a mutualistic relationship. In essence, our bodies are warm, wet and energy-rich: perfect for microorganisms to thrive. In exchange, we utilize bacteria for the enzymes and factors to help us break down food and for the proper development of our immune system to fend off parasitic pests. It's a beautiful example of the interconnectedness of the biological world.
Next time you are enjoying a meal or fighting off a cold, give due thanks to your microbes. They not only make our world better, they make it possible."

-Caleb Fischer

http://www.gcdailyworld.com/blogs/1589/entry/42781/

Microbial Art?

This is completely random, but nevertheless interesting:

http://www.microbialart.com/galleries/

The non-specific inflammatory response can be described as follows:

Once an injury to surrounding cells occur, mast cells and basophils (not shown) release histamines (also not shown) that attract neutrophils and cause vasodilation of the blood vessels closest to the injury. Neutrophils are the fastest to arrive and engulf the bacteria through phagocytosis. Some plasma containing small blood vessels and additional phagocytes will leak into the area surrounding the injury. Prostaglandins are also released, and these cause more dilation of the blood vessels. It also induces edema, or swelling, which explains why swelling occurs after an injury.

An intersting thing about pus: pus contains dead phagocytes and some plasma. Usually, the body will reabsorb pus within a few days of injury. However, sometimes it is released in other... methods.

Immune Response

Another Description of the Inflammatory Response

Inflammatory Response

A Small Proportion of Bacteria Found in the Human Body

Bacteria In Pond Water

Final Product Ideas

For the rest of my ISP, I am planning on synthesizing the information I have gathered on bacteria in an essay no more than 4000 words, possibly in the form of a thesis. Here is a short snippet from my essay so far:

The diversity of bacteria is sustained by their short generation span. Constantly adapting to changing environments, they have the ability to have an omnipresent impact on human life, as well as on the lives of other animals.

The intestinal bacterium E. coli is the epitome of such diversity. Through extensive studies, E. coli has presented most of the information we now know about bacteria. The double-stranded, circular DNA molecule is important to the bacterial genome: it is tightly packed in a region called the nucleoid and does not contain a binding membrane. Another characteristic that sets bacteria apart from eukaryotic organisms is that they contain several plasmids that are not necessary for survival, but may be beneficial in harsh environments—another factor that adds to the malleability of these microbes.

Bacteria, including E. coli, are also extremely successful because of their ability to proliferate so rapidly through asexual reproduction. It has been calculated that approximately nine million E. coli genes are mutated through this process per day per human host. This data supports the conclusion that bacteria can adapt to an environment through genetic mutation; those that survive will go on to reproduce. Though mutations are a major source of variation within a bacterial population, a process called genetic recombination can add more diversity to a population.

One study involving E. coli proves this. Wild-type E. coli (non-mutant) can survive only on a medium of glucose. However, two mutant strains, one of which cannot produce tryptophan, and the other that cannot synthesize arganine. When both the strains were mixed together and incubated on a minimal medium, growth occurs, showing that genetic recombination has occurred, making the two individual strains successful in an environment containing a minimal nutrition source.

In addition to being so versatile independently, bacteria can be used by scientists to exemplify certain genes present in non-bacterial organisms. A certain gene of interest (from any cell, including eukaryotic ones) can be isolated and inserted into a plasmid from a bacterial cell. The plasmid containing the gene of interest can be placed back into the bacterial cell, which is then cloned. When the bacteria reproduce, only some express the gene of interest. This strain of the bacteria can then be used for a variety of things, such as pest resistance for plants, or the treatment of stunted growth in animals.

Another piece of evidence showing that bacteria are extremely successful on earth is that bacteria were some of the first organisms to appear on the planet, about three thousand five hundred million years ago. The fact that these seemingly simple organisms have kept their genus intact for 3500 million years is undeniable proof of their complexity. As proof of their diversity, about five thousand species are currently known. These species may differ in their shape (coccus, bacillus, helical), motility (flagella, spirochetes), function, and nutritional or metabolic diversity.

            Though popular culture has lead us to associate the term bacteria with harm, many bacteria are actually quite useful. E. coli, a previously mentioned example, is useful in research, but is also found in the human intestine... (Note: I am not completely done with this paragraph yet…)

            These deceptively simple creatures have immensely complex ways of communication as well. Bacteria secrete autoinducers (chemical signal molecules) in order to communicate. These molecules can regulate gene expression and behavior by detecting the concentration of a certain autoinducer. This method of communication can allow bacteria to act like multicellular organisms. For example, on study conducted by Bonnie Basselor and her peers…(Note: I am not completely done with this paragraph yet…)

            At this point, my study of bacteria appeared somewhat broad, so I attempted to narrow my focus from the diversity of bacteria to developing methods of preventing harmful bacteria from entering human systems. Previously, an antimicrobial by the name of Triclosan, or Microban was used. Triclosan proved to be effective, but there were soon rising concerns about the toxicity of triclosan because it is a possible carcinogen, and is closely related to dioxin. Over the years, the use of this antimicrobial declined.

            However, this brief study of antimicrobials introduced me to another of the wonders of bacteria: triclosan also brought up concerns because bacteria easily gained antibiotic resistance to it. The concern that they adapted so easily, in just a few generations, amazed me and uncovered a whole new layer of versatility in the world of bacteria.

Please note that the above fragment is only a small part of my entire essay. The full essay is much more detailed, but I do not want to release the entire paper all at once. 

More Research

I really want to contact this professor: http://www.jhsph.edu/faculty/directory/profile/3936/Halden/Rolf_U. That would just be amazing... I could learn so much!

Other Antimicrobials

I discussed triclosan in the previous post... I also found some other substances that are associated with antimicrobial properties:
Australian tea tree oil
Grapefruit seed extract
Pine oil
Thyme oil (thymol)
H2Orange2 (a combination of hydrogen peroxide and orange oil)
Activated Triclosan (supposedly more efficient than the "traditional" version)

The Controversy over Triclosan

Triclosan is an antimicrobial agent used in many household antibacterial products. A controversy presides over the use of this agent, however.

First, I would like to address the issues associated with Triclosan, and its function in our bodies. Triclosan blocks the active site of the enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase enzyme. This enzyme is an essential enzyme required for the fatty acid synthesis in bacteria, and when Triclosan is present, it acts as a competitive inhibitor for the active site. As a result, the bacteria is prevented from producing the fatty acids needed for growth and reproduction, which in turn kills the bacteria. To many, this would make Triclosan a reasonable antimicrobial agent. However, some studies show that when exposed to water and UV rays, they are transformed into a potential carcinogen, Dioxin. I will need to conduct more research on this in order to understand how this occurs.

Also, this is a mental note to remember to look up the chemical structure of Triclosan and Dioxin and compare them...