User talk:Kking

Introduction

Bacteria can play interesting roles in the creation, deterioration, and preservation of artwork. Bacterial processes can produce a wide spectrum of colored pigments that people have been able to isolate and extract for use in art. Scientists and artists alike are able to make artistic patterns with these bacterial pigments through selective bacterial culturing. These pigments can also be used in the coloration process of food, textiles, and paints. While bacteria can have a hand in the direct production of art, microbes can also pose significant threats to existing artwork. The presence and metabolic processes of microbes on art, particularly on ancient cave art, can cause serious deteriorative harm to the artwork. However, while bacteria cause these deteriorative issues, they can also help solve them. Certain bacteria are being used more and more in the restoration of art and may even be key in helping to prevent art deterioration in the first place.

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.

Bacteria and colored pigments list

• Purple: Spirillum rubrum • Violet: Chromobacterium violacein • Indigo: Janthinobacterium lividum • Blue: Streptomyces coelicolor • Green: Chlorobium tepidum • Yellow: Xanthomonas campestris • Orange: Sarcina aurentiaca • Red: Serratia marcescen • Brown: Rhiobium etli • Black: Prevotela melaninogenica • Golden: Staphylococcus aureus • Silver: Actinomyces sp. • White: Staphylococcus epidermidis • Cream: Proteus vulgaris • Pink: Micrococcus roseus • Maroon: Rugamonas rubra • Fluorescent blue/green: Pseudomonas aeruginosa • Fluorescent yellow: Pseudomonas fluorescens

Artificial vs. Natural Pigments

While bacteria are a potential source of pigments, these pigments must be isolated using solvent extraction, and then purified and characterized. Once extracted, bacterial pigments can be used for coloration. For example, the pigment of Streptomyces (Streptomyces coelicolor = bright blue) can be isolated and used to make paint. While some bacteria naturally produce these pigments, genes can also be added to certain bacteria in order to produce particular colors. Because E. coli is easy to grow, it is typically the bacteria that is modified in the lab and used to produce a wide variety of colors. The genes that have been added to E. coli enable the bacteria to make a wide variety of colored pigments.