Imagine that we could completely get rid of the microbial biofilms found on all natural surfaces, including rocks and soil particles in and out of water. I don't mean by scrubbing each one with a brush, but by some equally implausible process. What would be the consequences for the biogeochemical cycles of the planet?
by Merry — It's not news that coral reefs around the world are in trouble. One obvious symptom of this has been the dramatic increase in coral diseases starting in the 1980s. There is black band and white band, brown band and yellow band, white pox and white plague, galls and bleaching, and…
by Christoph — We at STC are happy to take care of the interests of teachers. We most often do this by choosing and treating topics in our articles in a way that is suitable for teaching (check our category "Teachers Corner".) Today we would like to draw the attention of the teachers among you to collections of materials...
by Amy Cheng Vollmer — Here we are looking at the beginning of another academic year! Like many faculty members, my teaching load includes courses in my area of expertise (microbiology) and also some outside of my true comfort zone (introductory biology). Over the years, my attitude toward teaching...
by Elio — Extremophilic microbes, especially the thermophilic ones, are exceedingly interesting for many industrial processes. And why not, being that high temperatures prompt faster enzymatic reactions. Present-day uses for such organisms include the production of polysaccharide‑, lipid‑, and protein-degrading enzymes among many. It is worth remembering that this pursuit was initiated by...
by Jennifer Gutierrez, Sabrina Perrino, Kalyn Stern, Mark Thever — As first year graduate students in microbiology, we are accustomed to microbial surprises, learning again and again how different and exciting bacteria can be. However, it is fair to say that we were not entirely prepared for the Planctomycetes─ bacteria that divide by budding, have no peptidoglycan, and possess a unique and perplexing body plan.
by Merry Youle — Bacteria have been sexually promiscuous, swapping genes with gusto, for a very long time. More than 15% of E. coli's genome has arrived via horizontal gene transfer (HGT), with some 200 installments having turned up since it diverged from Salmonella 100 million years ago. And, as you are probably thinking, those 200 are...
Ah, life in a Teflon world. First of all, microbes love surfaces, so removing all biofilms would probably remove most of the biomass (from soil, anyway). I don't know exactly what proportion of microbes in soils are surface-associated, but my guess is at least 90%. So biogeochemical cycling would slow down at least by a factor of 10. In particular, decomposition of complex organic matter would slow, as degradation of cellulose involves major complexes of extracellular enzymes which are often anchored to the outside of cells (for bacteria anyway), in other words, biofilms. Finally, plant roots would have a very hard time: the "rhizosphere effect" greatly speeds up mineralization around roots. Removing root-associated biofilms is bound to eliminate most of those helpful rhizosphere dwellers. Planktonic microbes might eventually fill this niche, but they would have to chase the roots as they wind through the soil (all the good exudate comes from near the growing tip).
So C and N cycling would slow down to a crawl, and microbes would be cast adrift, washed to lower horizons and out to sea at the mercy of the rain...