David Esteban

David Esteban

Apr 27, 2015

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Time-lapse movie of growth and death in bacterial communities


More than a year ago I made a Winogradsky Panel that still sits in my office as a both a piece of art and ongoing experiment . Its really just a very thin plexiglas box full of mud, and bacteria in the mud grow on different parts of it. I have a time-lapse camera that takes a picture of it every day so I can keep track of its slow changes. Why? In part, because I thought it would be cool! But it turns out it has also been useful to show how it changes over time. Bacteria grow, and die, and new bacteria come up to replace them or the old ones grow back. But what drives the changes? What causes some bacteria to grow quickly? What causes some to die off? If the conditions change, how does the community change? One possibility is that viruses help drive some of those changes by infecting and killing certain bacteria, allowing others to grow. In some of the previous work in my lab we studied the bacterial members of the Winogradsky community. In this project, we will use DNA sequencing to identify the viruses that are present in communities like the one in this video, to begin exploring the role of these important members of the soil community.

In the video, watch for the shifting palate of colors. This is due to different species of bacteria growing and dying, and chemical reactions between the sediment and products of bacterial metabolism. And so, here is the full-length directors cut of the Winogradsky Movie, more than a year in the making. Put it on full screen and enjoy with a bucket of popcorn.

Want to learn more about what we are doing with Winogradsky columns? Click on our project above to read about our work to discover the diverse viral community in Winogradsky columns, and consider backing the project!

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About This Project

Viruses do more than just make us sick. Viruses are the most numerous organisms on the planet and they are everywhere, including soil. In the soil they can infect bacteria and other organisms that carry out important ecosystem functions, like nutrient cycling. It is likely that viruses have important effects on ecosystems, but we don't know exactly what that is! We hope to discover the role of viruses in the soil by identifying the viruses in a soil ecosystem.

Blast off!

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