Agar plates are used as a canvas, while pigmented or fluorescentbacteria and yeasts represent paint. In order to preserve a piece of microbial art after a sufficient incubation, the microbe culture is sealed with epoxy.[2]
A technique called "bacteriography" involves selectively killing certain areas of a bacterial culture with radiation in order to produce artistic patterns. After incubation, the culture is sealed with acrylic.[6]
The type of medium in the agar plates is also important. Chromagar Candida is a differential medium used to identify different Candida species. When grown on this medium, C. albicans is light green, C. tropicalis is steel blue with purple around the edges, and C. krusei is rose pink with white around the edges.[7] However, using a different medium, C. tropicalis has maroon colonies.[8] The color of the medium itself can also be changed using microbes. In TCBS agar, Bromthymol Blue and Thymol Blue turn yellow when pH decreases, such as when bacteria consume sucrose. In this way, the background color of the medium can be changed from dark green to light yellow.[9]
Alexander Fleming, who is commonly credited with the discovery of penicillin in 1928, was known for creating germ paintings.[3] Throughout his career, Fleming’s paintings became more colorful as he came to know more microbial species. He would incorporate them into his paintings of ballerinas, families, and other images.[10]
Cell to Cell, winner of 2015 ASM Agar Art Competition (by Mehmet Berkmen and Maria Peñil)
The American Society for Microbiology hosts an annual contest for microbial art: the Agar Art Contest.[2] The contest was organized after a picture from a Christmas tree, made by Rositsa Tashkova, went viral in 2014.[12] The 2015 edition covered 85 submissions, of which microbial art created by Mehmet Berkmen and Maria Peñil called Neurons won first place.[13] The artwork used yellow Nesterenkonia and orange Deinococcus and Sphingomonas.[14][15]
In 2020, the ASM received over 200 submissions, and awarded first place to Joanne Dungo for her multi-plate creation titled "The Gardener."[16]
^Mole, Beth Marie (19 October 2012). "Bacteriography". The Scientist. LabX Media Group. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
^Nadeem, S.G., Hakim, S.T., Kazmi, S.U. (2010). Use of CHROMagar Candida for the presumptive identification of Candida species directly from clinical specimens in resource-limited settings. Libyan Journal of Medicine 5.
^Ozcan, K., Ilkit, M., Ates, A., Turac-Bicer, A., Demirhindi, H. (2010). Performance of Chromogenic Candida Agar and CHROMagar Candida in recovery and presumptive identification of monofungal and polyfungal vaginal isolates. Medical Mycology 48(1), 29-34.
