An article published in the journal “Cell” reports the results of the use of genetic manipulation to study the behavior of some bacteria belonging to a large group called Patescibacteria. A team of researchers managed to manipulate the DNA of bacteria belonging to the phylum Saccharibacteria, which is part of that large group, which is considered microbial dark matter for the difficulties biologists had in studying them. These are bacteria discovered not many years ago that are now considered interesting for their metabolic characteristics, which for example, may include enzymes useful in biotechnological applications.
Patescibacteria constitute a branch of the great tree of bacterial life discovered not many years ago, and yet it was immediately found to be very rich in species that were very diverse, so much so that several phyla were proposed within what in the first studies were simply called “candidate phyla radiation“. This large group is still the subject of discussions regarding taxonomic classification both within the taxonomic domain of bacteria and concerning the groups that form it. The definition of microbial dark matter derives precisely from the difficulty of studying these bacteria and therefore of understanding their kinships with other groups.
The authors of this study managed to cultivate two strains of bacteria belonging to the phylum Saccharibacteria for which they proposed the names Candidatus Nanosynbacter lyticus and Candidatus Southlakia epibionticum. These are two strains of epibionts, which means they live on the surface of other organisms but are harmless to them. In this case, Saccharibacteria live on the surface of larger bacteria such as those of the Actinomyces israelii species.
The interactions between these bacteria and the organisms that host them are of enormous interest to biologists due to the various consequences that can arise. The strains studied here were defined as epibionts but biologists believe that they somehow exploit their hosts to grow. By modifying their DNA, it’s possible to test different hypotheses regarding these interactions. The accumulated knowledge can also be useful for shedding light on forms of symbiosis and parasitism.
The discovery of microorganisms that have truly diverse biological characteristics, as that they have adapted to sometimes extreme environments, opened up new perspectives for biological studies. In some cases, there’s interest from a medical point of view but there are species that produce hitherto unknown enzymes that could be useful for practical purposes in biotechnological applications. In short, this study is interesting for the possibilities it opens up to explore the world of microbial dark matter and certainly, many others will be conducted on Patescibacteria.
