Beach Going Bacteria

Microscope

The crashing surf, gleaming sunshine and warm beaches make coastlines look like...well, a relaxing place. But for the creatures that live there, it's anything but easy.

Pollution and the natural upwelling of metals and nutrients make the coastal environment more perilous than the ocean sea. Some organisms can't hack it.

But researchers from The Institute for Genomic Research and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography discovered one tiny bacteria that found ways to adapt. A strain of the microbe, called "synechococcus," has genes to process metals like iron and copper. It also developed a complex regulatory system of molecular sensors and response regulators that can deal with these metals and other pollutants.

What's remarkable is that this little bacteria adapted to these conditions while its ocean-going cousin, which doesn't face the chemical pressures of coastal living, lacks most of these genes.

The scientists believe that the beach-going bacteria may also be key to the development of "biosensors" that can detect small changes in the environmental conditions of coastal areas. If they're right, these smallest of plants may help us solve one of our biggest problems.

Script by Andrew Porterfield

Discovery Links

To learn more about today’s topic, please explore the links below:

• Surf's up -- and one coastal microbe has adapted
• Synechococcus PNAS paper (PDF)
• J. Craig Venter Institute