Dancing magnetotactic bacteria

November 14, 2014 7:26 AM

Magnetotactic bacteria linedancing to music through the use of a superimposed magnetic field. Basically exactly what it says on the tin.
posted by Blasdelb (29 comments total)

Well that made my Friday!
posted by Captain_Science at 7:40 AM on November 14, 2014

I... I kind of love it a lot?
posted by you're a kitty! at 7:42 AM on November 14, 2014

I can't even be mad about getting Cotton Eye Joe stuck in my head because that was magical!
posted by Grandysaur at 7:43 AM on November 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Is it sad that I am having sympathy for bacteria?
posted by symbioid at 7:43 AM on November 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

Bacteria That Synthesize Nano-sized Compasses to Navigate Using Earth's Geomagnetic Field
posted by Blasdelb at 7:45 AM on November 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

next week on “club dance” at the petri dish cafe

Boot Scootin' Botulinum
Achy Breaky Heliobacter
Ain't Goin' Down (Til the Staphlococcus Comes Up)
posted by lalochezia at 7:50 AM on November 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

How the heck did this pass an Internal Review Board? Subjecting those poor specimens to Cotton Eyed Joe. :(
posted by yeti at 7:54 AM on November 14, 2014 [6 favorites]

Magnetite from bacteria, in addition to being fucking awesome, has also lead to a wide array of very useful tools in molecular biology. Unlike the nanoparticles of magnetite that can be synthesized chemically (instructions available online*), they have a consistent size and shape as well as a membrane coating that can be made to stick to things with very specific interactions.

Application of magnetic techniques in the field of drug discovery and biomedicine
Magnetic separation technology, using magnetic particles, is quick and easy method for sensitive and reliable capture of specific proteins, genetic material and other biomolecules. The technique offers an advantage in terms of subjecting the analyte to very little mechanical stress compared to other methods. Secondly, these methods are non-laborious, cheap and often highly scalable. Moreover, techniques employing magnetism are more amenable to automation and miniaturization. Now that the human genome is sequenced and about 30,000 genes are annotated, the next step is to identify the function of these individual genes, carrying out genotyping studies for allelic variation and SNP analysis, ultimately leading to identification of novel drug targets. In this post-genomic era, technologies based on magnetic separation are becoming an integral part of todays biology laboratory. This article briefly reviews the selected applications of magnetic separation techniques in the field of biotechnology, biomedicine and drug discovery.

*If any of you guys do end up buying this, please don't fuck with it and be super careful around kids. I've been making ferrofluid for a while and nanoparticles of magnetite haven't really been meaningfully tested for long term safety. Consider using gloves and make sure it doesn't interact with food or anything that could get inside of you.
posted by Blasdelb at 7:58 AM on November 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

New York's hottest new club is called CROBE, it has everything, bacteria, line dancing, controllers, magnets...
posted by The Whelk at 8:05 AM on November 14, 2014 [4 favorites]

I got friends in warm places
Where the agar's rich and the autoclave chases my blues away...
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:07 AM on November 14, 2014 [3 favorites]

I call shenanigans. Tin isn't ferrous!
posted by ardgedee at 8:20 AM on November 14, 2014

That was great fun.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 8:36 AM on November 14, 2014

Worth it for the "Tap water" gag alone.
posted by metaBugs at 8:39 AM on November 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Loving the counterpoints Blasdelb is adding to the conversation in this thread... do si do
posted by infini at 8:48 AM on November 14, 2014

Oh no! Not another expose about Big Magnet!

42 my arse
posted by glasseyes at 8:48 AM on November 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wait a minute... one of the tags is MassDeath? What is this? Heavy Metal? I thought I came in for country....
posted by infini at 8:49 AM on November 14, 2014

I noticed a few stray bacteria that either didn't move at all or simply continued on in the direction they were originally headed even when the scientists were moving the controller -- are those a different kind of bacteria that are not sensitive to the magnet? Or is there a certain percentage of magnetotactic bacteria that will always go their own way no matter what?
posted by divined by radio at 8:49 AM on November 14, 2014

I want to be the Busby Berkeley of magetotactic bacteria.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 9:19 AM on November 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

That was awesome.
posted by rtha at 10:02 AM on November 14, 2014

The ones not line dancing were the bacteria that have evolved a sense of taste.
posted by benzenedream at 10:11 AM on November 14, 2014

How the heck did this pass an Internal Review Board?

Bacteria, much like post-docs, are not considered human subjects.
posted by Panjandrum at 10:28 AM on November 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

Is this what we are paying you for? Go back to work and cure cancer!

The ones not line dancing were the bacteria that have evolved a sense of taste.

Nah. Either Wallflowers, small children, or the elderly come to watch the young'uns having a good old time. Some of them old timers could really shake a tail a day or so ago.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:39 AM on November 14, 2014

This is a metaphor for something.
posted by mikelieman at 11:24 AM on November 14, 2014

My favorite part: "2,388,714 bacteria were killed during the making of this video"
posted by rjd at 11:49 AM on November 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Boot Scootin' Botulinum
Achy Breaky Heliobacter
Ain't Goin' Down (Til the Staphlococcus Comes Up)

E. Coli Went Down to Georgia
Extremophile's Daughter
Salmonella By Your Man
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:10 PM on November 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Oh hell yes.
posted by Sleeper at 12:27 PM on November 14, 2014

Dancing is always better when you put your bacteria into it.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:49 PM on November 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

step, touch, grapevine right, rotate flagellum counterclockwise and promenade
posted by en forme de poire at 9:56 PM on November 14, 2014 [4 favorites]

Blaseldb, magnetic separation technology is my life. SPRI for all! Could I train little flagellated magnetotactic bacteria to perform more precise separation for me? Carry my polyA RNA around in their little hands?

:)
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 7:28 AM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]