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Bacteria and Art: Creation, Deterioration, and Preservation

Bacterial Pigment Production

Bacteria synthesize molecules of pigment in their cell wall or periplasmic space. The bacterial pigments produced can be water soluble or insoluble, but molecular oxygen is necessary for pigmentation so only aerobic bacteria are pigmented. However, pigment production is also dependent on factors like light, pH, temperature, and media. Pigmentation in bacteria occurs in association with morphological characteristics, cellular activities, pathogenesis, and protection. For example, pigments in photosynthetic bacteria carry out photosynthesis, similar to the way in which chlorophyll (a green colored pigment) functions in plants. Pigments in bacteria can also act to absorb UV radiation or other molecules in order to protect the cell.

Bacterial pigments can also be used as antibiotics, which target phytopathogenic fungi, bacteria, and yeasts, as well as human pathogens (G+ and G- bacteria and fungi). Bacterial pigments can protect the bacterial cell by conferring antibacterial and heavy metal resistance, by forming a barrier around the cell, which prevents antibiotics from interacting with the cell wall or membrane. Bacterial pigments can also act as biosensors of water, soil, and air pollution. In the 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition, a team from Cambridge developed E. chromi, a bacteria that expresses colorful pigments vivid enough to make bacterial art that were originally designed to act as environmental sensors (scientopia). Bacterial pigments can display a wide range colors, including all the colors of the rainbow and some unusual colors as well. This wide range of pigments bacteria produce can be used as food, textile, and paint colorants.