Bacterial Conversations: Self-Organizing Communities of B. subtilis

Bacterial Conversations: Self-Organizing Communities of B. subtilis

Collections: Image Award Winners

2012 Award Winner

Fernan Federici, Tim Rudge, P.J. Steiner and Jim Haseloff
Cambridge University

Confocal Micrograph

The colors in this image identify distinct lineages of Bacillus subtilis bacteria initially mixed randomly on a Petri dish.  As the bacteria grow, they organize themselves into distinct and reproducible communities illustrated by the colors shown here.  Researchers took this image as part of a project designing artificial genetic circuits in bacterial colonies and plant tissues.

This image appears in the Koch Institute Public Galleries as part of a partnership between the Koch Institute and Wellcome Images, a London-based world leader in the collection of biomedical images.  To learn more about Wellcome Images, visit their website at: http://images.wellcome.ac.uk/.