Identification of Isolated Communal Kitchen Sink Bacteria, a Microbial Hotspot

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Identification of Isolated Communal Kitchen Sink Bacteria, a Microbial Hotspot

 

 

Grace Mikkelsen

This paper is about bacteria isolated and identified from a kitchen sink, my results show that it is Klebsiella grimontii proteobacteria.

 

See the source image

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&thid=AMMS_cfcae430924e7dd7e6122221db3336af&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F9%2F9e%2FKlebsiella_pneumoniae_01.png&exph=474&expw=722&q=klebsiella&selectedindex=0&stid=f9926654-bc9b-e870-5a4e-f011710c45b2&cbn=EntityAnswer&ajaxhist=0&id=f9926654-bc9b-e870-5a4e-f011710c45b2&vt=0&eim=1,2,6

Paper link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19cHOoRwoAQjlFDeE7VEkCcYo4I22RJTMEo39vI7DO0Q/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

Third Microbes in the News

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— Article and link: A Blazing Hot Coal Shows How Microbes Can Spring to Life   Source: Wired 04/21/19   Link: https://www.wired.com/story/a-blazing-hot-coal-seam-shows-how-microbes-can-spring-to-life/

— Summary: In Centralia many single-celled microbes live in the soil that is on top of the underground mine fire in the coal seam. Due to the fire it was initially thought nothing may have lived, but instead there are many microbes. The same amount of microbes have been found to be living in very hot areas including various thermophiles that microbes that live at geothermal hot springs.

— Connections: In class we have briefly studied thermophiles which are heat loving bacteria. We have also looked at the various species of microbes that live in soil, and I find it interesting how natural disasters can affect what microbes are in the soil. We studied factors that can cause microbes to go dormant, which is what can happen during a fire since there is no activity on the soil.

— Critical analysis: I thought this article was interesting because it involves microbe activity when a natural disaster occurs and using spores to regrow genomes. The article was well written and contained a large amount of detailed scientific information. It could be rather difficult for the general public to read the article and understand it all though, because of all the technical terms it contains.

— Question: What organisms do you think would be likely to live through a fire or other extreme natural disaster? Would they become dormant?

 

 

Microbial World

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Title: Microbial World and its Diverse Species

By: Grace Mikkelsen

I made this painting using acrylics as a medium. It represents the various microbes commonly found in the microbial world. It includes the flagellated E. Coli, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Tenericutes, Aquificales, Gemmatimonadetes and Verrucomicrobia.   This artwork took several attempts to make as it was difficult to create using to the visual effect that I wanted to create using only black, white, blue and green. I based the painting off a photo with these colors and then added my own take to create more microbial diversity and include more species. I choose this as my assingnment because I think that painting is a good way to create accurate representations of the microbes that we often find that closely resemble each other and only have slight differences that can be portrayed with details. I also was reminded of my kitchen sinks bacterial diversity when I saw the original image and want to include more of the microbe such as Proteobacteria that my bacterium contained.

A2: Microbes in the News

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Title: Microbes that live in fishes slimy mucus coating could lead chemists to antibiotic drugs

Source: The Conversation Academic Rigor, journalistic flair

Date: March 31st 2019

https://theconversation.com/microbes-that-live-in-fishes-slimy-mucus-coating-could-lead-chemists-to-new-antibiotic-drugs-114278

Finding new sources of antibiotics has become critically important in recent years in order to combat drug resistant infections. One potential source is fish mucus that covers their bodies in pill form since it is a natural anti-infective. Over 33,000 species of fish have the microbial containing the slime that can protect them from diseases and bacteria and potentially used to help humans with this as well.

In class we have discussed antibiotic sources and working around antibiotic resistance. We have looked at how different natural microbes can help with fighting off diseases and not have a resistance already built up.

I found the article to be well written and very scientifically relevant. They referenced their research at Oregon State University and the ways they have classified the different bacteria they have found taxonomic groups. They found 47 different bacterial strains gathered for the swabs they did on the fish mucus. They carried out a process similar to what we have done in lab to isolate and test them.

What do you think about using natural anti-infectives from animals to combat human pathogens?

Painting with Microbes

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Grace Mikkelsen F03

My artistic intent was to create a leaf, because we are coming spring season when leaves reappear. I love creating “natural” looking art with mediums that are nature themselves.

I used Eosin methylene blue agar which is both a differential and selective media. The blue agar color appeared to have remained the same hue. A fair amount of condensation did form on the plate, making it almost look like dew drops on the leaf.

A2: Microbes in the News: We’re Not Using One of Our Best Weapons against Drug-Resistant Microbes

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Title: We’re Not Using One of Our Best Weapons against Drug-Resistant Microbes,  

Source: Scientific American

Date: 2/8/2019

Link: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/were-not-using-one-of-our-best-weapons-against-drug-resistant-microbes/

Summary: There have been many deaths with drug-resistant bacteria from Antimicrobial resistance or AMR for short. New vaccines can benefit AMR since they help with mortality, morbidity and epidemics.

Connections: We have learned about antibiotic resistance   for bacteria and the role it has played in history with various diseases.   Vaccinating against diseases appears to be a much better solution than prescribing antibiotics which can kill off good forms of bacteria essential for a healthy microbiome. The post also connects with what we have learned about the wide range of microbial life and its affects when using antibiotics to treat bacterial diseases such as salmonella, gonorrhoea and shigella.

Critical Analysis: I found this blog post very interesting because it dives into some of the long term affects of using antibiotics too much in our society. It talks largely about the benefits of preemptive vaccination as a method to reduce AMR and control diseases. It is lacking in information about the effects of AMR and antibiotics sadly; and mostly talks about vaccines as a better alternative.

Question: Does AMR affect various age groups differently? What are the affects of AMR in animals?

 

A3: Epithet Epitaphs-Grace Mikkelsen-H.G. Derxia

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Derxia Gummosa  is a bacterial strain named after   H.G. Derx the Dutch microbiologist who found out about its exhistence. Derx lived from 1894—1953 in Denmark and conducted his research there. Derxia can be grown at a ph 0f 5-9 and acidified and a ph of 4.5 or less. The bacteria has also been tested and was sucessful in fixing nitrogen. It takes generally 2-3 weeks to fix it and only makes a small amount, but proved much more successful than other strains of bacteria.

H.G Derx also did other important work in the field of microbiolgy. Derx published two papers in 1925 and 1926 on  Penicillium luten bacteria as well and wrote a book about their lifecycle in 1928. He also did extensive research on sporangous cell life, and made many advaces in culture growing methods for the labs of his day.

References:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00412286

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4547570?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

ttps://www.microbiologyresearch.org/docserver/fulltext/micro/58/2/mic-58-2-277.pdf?expires=1548752406&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=627304C4DDA0F0EE910C0DE869CD3738