Scientist takes a break from his usual routine, uses Bacillus subtilis bacteria to spell “Merry Xmas”

Dec 23, 2014 09:14 GMT  ·  By

It just so happens that there is more to being a scientist than writing tedious paper and spending hours on end in the lab carrying out rather dull experiments. Look no further than this piece of news if you need proof.

Thus, just in time for this year's holiday season, a brainiac with the University of Warwick in the UK decided to have some fun and used bacteria to help set the mood for Christmas.

The brainiac's name is Dr. Munehiro Asally and his idea of spreading the holiday joy was to coerce a group of bacteria to get in line and spell “Merry Xmas.”

True, the letters he got the bacteria to form turned out to be freakishly small and not all that artistic. Still, the fact of the matter is that having a team of microscopic organisms wish us a Merry Xmas is pretty cool.

How exactly did he do it?

Like any other proper scientist, Dr. Munehiro saw fit to release a report documenting his work. In this report, he details that the bacterium species he chose to work with goes by the name of Bacillus subtilis.

As part of this rather peculiar experiment, the researcher started by having several bacteria belonging to this species grow on agar plates, which are basically Petri dishes containing a carefully controlled culture medium.

Dr. Munehiro Asally explains that he let the bacteria grow inside the Petri dishes for 14 hours straight. During this time, the culture medium was kept at a constant temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Celsius), Phys Org informs.

After this, the scientist used metal stamps to get the groups of bacteria to develop in the form of specific letters. It took some 12 hours to grow each of the 2-millimeter (0.08-inch) letters needed to spell “Merry Xmas.”

“Whilst we may think that bacteria are solitary single cell organisms, they are in fact social and in nature almost exclusively exist in the form of structured communities,” Dr. Munehiro Asally explains his work.

“In forming biofilms, such as the letters, bacteria act collectively to form the structure. Physical forces are excreted by localized cell death, a process which produces the structure's shape – which then protects and supports the living cells,” he adds.

A rather common bacterium species

Mind you, the scientist did not risk his or his colleagues' health when carrying out this experiment. Thus, he says that the bacterium species that he used to wish people a Merry Christmas is quite common and completely harmless.

More precisely, the University of Warwick scientist explains that Bacillus subtilis is a non-pathogenic bacterium that is found not just in the soil but also the human gut.

Truth be told, several studies have shown that, in severely immunocompromised individuals, the bacterium can cause various health trouble. Still, it can also be used as a probiotic in healthy folks.

Researcher uses bacteria to spell “Merry Xmas” (5 Images)

Researcher uses bacteria to spell “Merry Xmas”
The species he worked with is dubbed Bacillus subtilisSuch bacteria are known to populate the human gut
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