Is a coconut sponge really clean?

This study proves that the ordinary kitchen coconut sponge may be more suitable for cultivating bacterial communities than the Petri dish in the biological laboratory, kitchen sponge brandbecause the structure of coconut sponge will affect the interaction between microbial species and is conducive to the rampant growth of bacteria.

Not just the food residue, but the structure of the coconut sponge itself allows microbes to thrive in it, according to a new study. In fact, some bacteria like to live in different communities, while others like to live only with bacteria that are similar to themselves, so, an environment in which both bacteria can live the best life results in the strongest bacterial diversity. In a natural setting, soil provides the best mix of living conditions, as does your kitchen coconut sponge. The findings, published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, could not only help you clean your kitchen, but also inform a variety of industries that use bacteria to produce food, medicine, energy and other products.

In nature, the bacterial community structure is mixed with different levels of culture, sponge wholesale manufacturerand the soil provides the space needed for the growth and development of different populations, so that they can live more independently without too much interaction with their neighbors. However, when human society cultivates bacterial species to produce enterprise products, such as alcohol, biomass used as fuel and drugs, we simply put them in plates or vats in laboratories or factories to form shapeless sticky substances. Such environmental problems usually involve "social dance" between bacterial systems.

Each type of bacteria gives off a different color, which helps researchers track their growth.

Dr. You, a professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University in the United States, said: "Bacteria are like people experiencing an epidemic. Some people recover slowly, while others are full of energy. " We have shown that in a complex bacterial community with both positive and negative effects, there is a moderate degree of integration to maximize the overall coexistence of all bacteria. "Through a series of experiments, scientists have proved that different microbial species can influence each other's populations according to the environmental factors in which they live, such as the size of the environment.

They coded the genomes of about 80 different strains to track their population growth, and then mixed the bacteria in different combinations in laboratory dishes. The Petri dishes provide a wide variety of potential habitats for bacteria -- from six large colonies to 1,536 small colonies.

These communities can be designed to simulate different environments in which bacteria may like to grow. A large community is similar to an environment where many microbial species can mix freely, while a small community is similar to a bacterium that can maintain an independent space. Interestingly, regardless of the size of the habitat, the final result is the same: bacteria have evolved into a community with only one or two surviving strains, but the medium-sized bacterial community has the greatest diversity.

“Small amounts of nutrients inhibit bacteria that rely on corporate interactions to survive, while excessive nutrients inhibit bacteria that students can grow independently,” Dr. You explained. “But the middle is just enough to maximize the diversity of survivors in our microbial community. This may explain why the coco sponges in the kitchen are the best habitat for microbes, which have been studied to provide an isolated cavity for microbes and to co-exist in a variety of sizes, mimicking the health effects of the soil, which is a favorite of bacteria.

To prove this, the researchers also tested a common household coconut sponge and found that it can cultivate microbial diversity better than anything used in the laboratory before. Dr Yau said: "It has been proved that coconut sponge is a very simple method, which can realize multi-level distribution of nutrients and improve the whole microbial community. Perhaps this is why it is so dirty-the structure of coconut sponge is the perfect home for microorganisms. "

The bacteria are spread in common household coconut sponges

These results provide a framework for scientists studying different bacterial communities to test which structural environments are most suitable for their research and which companies that use bacteria in their production must take into account.