A misconception

A science based largely on an artifact.

Over one hundred years ago, Robert Koch made one of the most important conceptual and technological breakthroughs in the history of microbiology.  He developed the methods to create a  solid nutrient media in order to grow and isolate pure cultures of microorganisms.

Robert Koch.  Courtesy of the
National Library of Medicine.

The importance of this discovery to advances in medical, agricultural and industrial microbiology would be hard to overestimate. The dividends these techniques returned have positively affected the lives of nearly everyone on the planet. The training of generations of microbiologists has been based, to a significant degree, on the investigation of the properties of pure cultures and the elucidation of the properties of these organisms one at a time. As productive as this strategy has been, it tends to  perpetuate a misconception. In fact, pure cultures are virtually absent in nature.

This suggests that most of what we know about microorganisms has been learned under laboratory conditions that are not representative of how microorganisms are found in nature.  Microorganisms, like other organisms, exist in assemblages or communities where a variety of interactions exist. Mutualism, commensalism, antagonism, and saprophytism are but a few of the more common interactions known to exist among microorganisms and multicellular organisms.

© P. Stoodley, author.  ASM MicrobeLibrary
This biofilm formed from a mixed culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. fluorescens and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Considering the number of known microbes and the estimated number of those yet to be discovered, the complexity of microbial  interactions in nature can truly be appreciated.

Introduction
Where biofilms are found
How biofilms form
Biofilm attributes
Facts about biofilms
A misconception

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