Electric Cyanobacteria Loves Agaricus bisporus!
The caps of white button mushrooms provide habitat for energy-producing cyanobacteria to thrive (better than they did on silicone!).Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey have shown that white button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) supercharged with 3D-printed clusters of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) can generate electricity! Along with the 3D-printed clumps of cyanobacteria, the cap of the button mushroom (Fig. 1) also dawns swirls of graphene nanoribbons, a conductive network that can collect the current of electrons that transfer through the outer membrane of the cyanobacteria.
The study of energy-producing bacteria has been limited because cyanobacteria do not survive long on artificial bio-compostable materials. Manu Manoor and Sudeep Joshi (assistant professor of mechanical engineering and his postdoctural at Stevens) found that cyanobacteria last several days longer when placed on top of the button mushroom caps versus silicone. The mushroom serves as a suitable environment for the cyanobacteria, supplying nutrients, moisture, pH, and temperature to nourish the energetic productivity of the cyanobacteria.
This study termed its findings as "engineered bionic symbiosis" between two different microbiological Queendoms. The study shows that the amount of electricity these bacteria produce can vary depending how densely they are packed together and their alignment to each other. The more densely packed, the more electricity is produced. Different spatial geometrical patterns of the 3D-printed bacterial cells augment the generational behavior of the system.
In writing up a post on this incredulous technology, cyanobacteria were calling me to do some more thorough explaining on their history with life's unfolding. While cyanobacteria X agaricus (seemingly low-input) energy system holds bio-energy-hope, our irresponsible behaviors toward the wild cyanobacteria call for a grand surfacing of our consciousness. Cyanobacteria is powerful, much more powerful than humans alone. Cyanobacteria (like all natural life) is connecting with us to nurture the evolution of consciousness. Let's receive and reciprocate!
Intro To Cyanobacteria / Cyanobacteria Intro To Us
Cyanobacteria or "blue-green algae" are prokaryotic (proteins, DNA, and metabolites are located together and enclosed in cell membrane) chlorophyllous organisms that live in water (aquatic) and are often capable of fixing nitrogen. The name "cyanobacteria" comes from the color of the bacteria (Greek κυανός (kyanós) = blue). Chlorophyllous means they capture light from the sun and produce their own energy using photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria contain chlorophyll a, the same photosynthetic pigment that plants use. In fact, all plants form symbiotic relationships with cyanobacteria (known as chloroplasts) to do their photosynthesis for them.
Not all "blue-green" bacteria are cyan-colored. Other common forms of cyanobacteria are phyoerythrin, the red or pink from the pigment phycoerythrin (often found on greenhouse glass or around sinks or drains), Oscillatora, the reddish-pigmented cyanobacteria that blooms in the Red Sea, and Spirulina, a nutritious and medicinal cyanobacteria that you can grow at home.
Cyanobacteria's electric possibility for our future seem to be one of indebted dreaming -- but who's dreaming who?
Cyanobacteria were an indelible role for our evolutionary unfolding, being primarily responsible for the increase in atmospheric oxygen during he Archaean and Protozoic Eras (3.5 bya - 542 mya). Cyanobacteria and their photosynthesizing were primarily responsible for an increase in atmospheric oxygen, as oxygen is a byproduct of photosynthesis. Another indication of Cyanobacteria's influence is the "The Great Oxidation Event": ~2.45 bya a huge drop in oceanic nickel killed microbes that produce methane (possibly because of cooling and solidifying of earth's mantle), allowing algae to take up more oxygen-releasing space. The isotopic ratio of sulfur changed, indicating that oxygen was becoming a significant part of our atmosphere for the first time. We can see that reactions to oxygen began taking place in the seawater -- oxidized iron began to appear in ancient soils and bands of iron were deposited on the seafloor.
Cyanobacteria are also essential for nutrient cycling, advancing the movement nutrients through an ecological system, which measures how quickly an environment will be able to grow and respond to change. Cyanobacteria are great changers in niche pools of phosphorous and nitrogen that are not usually accessible to other nutrient cyclers like phytoplankton. Nutrient cycling enables biological growth by constantly unlocking unavailable nutrients and turning them back into soluble compounds that microbes, plants, and animals can metabolize into tissue.
The over-enrichment of our surface waters by water runoff and pollution of nutrients from agricultural, industrial, and urban discharges (eutrophication) is a worldwide water quality issue that alters the nutrient cycling process. In such a eutrophic state, brought on by our consistent pumping of nutrient-rich glyphosate weed killer, synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, cyanobacteria can reach high densities and toxic blooms through excessive growth. The warming of our surface waters alone yield marginally higher cyanobacteria concentrations, yet the pulse of additional nutrients from run-off pollution is boosting blooms that are happening in especially urban waters like Florida's Lake Okeechobee, Turkey's Kebam Dam, and Lake Erie in North America. Primary sources of nutrient pollution are also stormwater, wastewater, and fossil fuel use (nitrogen in air is part of the nitrogen cycle).
Let's stop our support of monopolies and keep turning toward local, small-scale ecosystem-sensitive practices. & Let me know when one of you gets a 3D printer. ;) Let us evolve our symbiotic future with cyanobacteria and cultivate ecosystems where we return our nourishment back to lovely cyanobacteria!
Citations
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| Fig. 1 Button Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) with 3D-printed clusters of cyanobacteria (dark black) and a swirl of graphene nanoribbons (green, or not as dark black) traveling up the mushroom cap. (Nano Letters, 2018) |
This study termed its findings as "engineered bionic symbiosis" between two different microbiological Queendoms. The study shows that the amount of electricity these bacteria produce can vary depending how densely they are packed together and their alignment to each other. The more densely packed, the more electricity is produced. Different spatial geometrical patterns of the 3D-printed bacterial cells augment the generational behavior of the system.
In writing up a post on this incredulous technology, cyanobacteria were calling me to do some more thorough explaining on their history with life's unfolding. While cyanobacteria X agaricus (seemingly low-input) energy system holds bio-energy-hope, our irresponsible behaviors toward the wild cyanobacteria call for a grand surfacing of our consciousness. Cyanobacteria is powerful, much more powerful than humans alone. Cyanobacteria (like all natural life) is connecting with us to nurture the evolution of consciousness. Let's receive and reciprocate!
Intro To Cyanobacteria / Cyanobacteria Intro To Us
Cyanobacteria or "blue-green algae" are prokaryotic (proteins, DNA, and metabolites are located together and enclosed in cell membrane) chlorophyllous organisms that live in water (aquatic) and are often capable of fixing nitrogen. The name "cyanobacteria" comes from the color of the bacteria (Greek κυανός (kyanós) = blue). Chlorophyllous means they capture light from the sun and produce their own energy using photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria contain chlorophyll a, the same photosynthetic pigment that plants use. In fact, all plants form symbiotic relationships with cyanobacteria (known as chloroplasts) to do their photosynthesis for them.
Not all "blue-green" bacteria are cyan-colored. Other common forms of cyanobacteria are phyoerythrin, the red or pink from the pigment phycoerythrin (often found on greenhouse glass or around sinks or drains), Oscillatora, the reddish-pigmented cyanobacteria that blooms in the Red Sea, and Spirulina, a nutritious and medicinal cyanobacteria that you can grow at home.
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| Cyanobacteria (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanolh.html) |
Cyanobacteria were an indelible role for our evolutionary unfolding, being primarily responsible for the increase in atmospheric oxygen during he Archaean and Protozoic Eras (3.5 bya - 542 mya). Cyanobacteria and their photosynthesizing were primarily responsible for an increase in atmospheric oxygen, as oxygen is a byproduct of photosynthesis. Another indication of Cyanobacteria's influence is the "The Great Oxidation Event": ~2.45 bya a huge drop in oceanic nickel killed microbes that produce methane (possibly because of cooling and solidifying of earth's mantle), allowing algae to take up more oxygen-releasing space. The isotopic ratio of sulfur changed, indicating that oxygen was becoming a significant part of our atmosphere for the first time. We can see that reactions to oxygen began taking place in the seawater -- oxidized iron began to appear in ancient soils and bands of iron were deposited on the seafloor.
Cyanobacteria are also essential for nutrient cycling, advancing the movement nutrients through an ecological system, which measures how quickly an environment will be able to grow and respond to change. Cyanobacteria are great changers in niche pools of phosphorous and nitrogen that are not usually accessible to other nutrient cyclers like phytoplankton. Nutrient cycling enables biological growth by constantly unlocking unavailable nutrients and turning them back into soluble compounds that microbes, plants, and animals can metabolize into tissue.
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| Ahh, look at that cyanobacterial bloom juxtaposed with a lush, manicured monoculture no doubt doused in hlyphosate weed killer, synthetic chemical fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides in the name of shielding out any non-grass growth. Such grass demands frequent waterings, which in turn wash the fertilizer away from the roots, making the grass require more frequent fertilizing. (2016, Greg Lovett the Palm Beach Post) |
Let's stop our support of monopolies and keep turning toward local, small-scale ecosystem-sensitive practices. & Let me know when one of you gets a 3D printer. ;) Let us evolve our symbiotic future with cyanobacteria and cultivate ecosystems where we return our nourishment back to lovely cyanobacteria!
Citations
- Cottingham, K. L., H. A. Ewing, M. L. Greer, C. C. Carey, and K. C. Weathers. 2015. Cyanobacteria as biological drivers of lake nitrogen and phosphorus cycling. Ecosphere 6(1):1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00174.1
- Downing, J. A., Prairie, Y. T., Cole, J. J., Duarte, C. M., Tranvik, L. J., Striegl, R. G., et al. (2006). The global abundance and size distribution of lakes, ponds, and impoundments. Limnol. Oceanogr. 51, 2388–2397. doi: 10.4319/lo.2006.51.5.2388
- Farquhar J, Bao H, Thiemens M . 2000 Atmospheric influence of Earth's earliest sulfur cycle. Science 289, 756–758. (doi:10.1126/science.289.5480.756)
- Spribille T., Tuovinen V., Resl P., Vanderpool D., Wolinski H., Aime M.C., Schneider K., (...), 2016 McCutcheon J.P. Basidiomycete yeasts in the cortex of ascomycete macrolichens Science, 353 (6298) , pp. 488-492.
- Holland, H.D. 1994. Early Proterozoic atmospheric change. Pp. 237-244 in S. Bengtson (ed.), Early Life on Earth. Columbia University Press, New York.
- McCoy, Peter 2016. Radical Mycology: A treatise on seeing and working with fungi. Portland, Oregon: Chtheaus Press.
- Paerl, H. W., and Paul, V. J. (2012). Climate change: Links to global expansion of harmful cyanobacteria. Water Res. 46, 1349–1363. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2011.08.002
- Paerl, H. W., Hall, N. S., and Calandrino, E. S. (2011). Controlling harmful cyanobacterial blooms in a world experiencing anthropogenic and climatic-induced change. Sci. Total Environ. 409, 1739–1745. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.02.001
- Smith, V. H., and Schindler, D. W. (2009). Eutrophication science: where do we go from here? Trends Ecol. Evol. 24, 201–207. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2008.11.009
- Sudeep Joshi, Ellexis Cook, and Manu S. Mannoor. Bacterial Nanobionics via 3D Printing. Nano Letters, 2018 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02642
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