429 - Springtails Smell, Spread Streptomyces

Springtail Folsomia candida
By Andy Murray
CC BY-SA 2.0

This episode: Bacteria in soil produce smells to attract arthropods that eat them but also spread their spores!

Download Episode (6.2 MB, 9.0 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Blotched snakehead virus

News item

Takeaways

Soil, especially after a rain, often has a characteristic "earthy" smell. This soil smell is actually the result of certain bacteria producing a volatile chemical called geosmin. Many geosmin producers are in the Streptomyces genus, which produces a large variety of interesting chemicals, but geosmin is one of the few that is nearly universal in the genus.

This study found that insect-like arthropods called springtails are attracted to geosmin. These animals usually feed on fungi, but they will also eat bacteria when available. Despite this result, the bacteria continue to produce the chemical, which is linked to their sporulation cycle. The study found that springtails carry intact bacterial spores to new places stuck to the insides and outsides of the animal, and this enhances the dispersal ability of the bacteria.

Journal Paper:
Becher PG, Verschut V, Bibb MJ, Bush MJ, Molnár BP, Barane E, Al-Bassam MM, Chandra G, Song L, Challis GL, Buttner MJ, Flärdh K. 2020. Developmentally regulated volatiles geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol attract a soil arthropod to Streptomyces bacteria promoting spore dispersal. 6. Nat Microbiol 5:821–829.

Other interesting stories:

• Silicon nanowires help bacteria harvest light to fix carbon dioxide
• Bacterium produces membrane balls containing enzymes to help digest lignin

Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

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