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How dazzling bacteria get their rainbow

A bacterial colony’s diet underlies its iridescence.
Six panels of images of colour development of IR1 colonies throughout their lifespan under different nutrient conditions.

A bacterial colony (top row) deprived of a complex sugar has different colours from a colony that received the nutrient. Both colonies are shown on days 1, 2 and 3 of growth. Credit: Van de Kerkhof, G. T. et al. J. R. Soc. Interface

Bacteria are no exception to the old saying ‘you are what you eat’, with some iridescent bacterial colonies getting their brilliant colours from the nutrients they consume1.

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Nature 606, 11 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01451-2

References

  1. Van de Kerkhof, G. T. et al. J. R. Soc. Interface https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0181 (2022).

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