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- Aug 25, 2016
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An interesting study was recently published dealing with they types of bacteria found in dew.
You can read the original study here.
The takeaway is that dew contains more "life" per volume than sea water, regular atmospheric air, soil, etc, and it serves as a sort of a natural incubation environment or "birth place / womb" for certain species of bacteria. As the dew descends, and starts to envelop the plants near the surface o the ground, it extracts and dissolves various plant sugars, methanols, amino acids, and other compounds that are naturally secreted by plants. This produces a kind of a supercharged broth.
The most common bacteria in the dew are the Methylobacterium species that can break down methane containing compounds as well as formaldehydes, and in general a host of different compounds that contain carbon. In some cases it seems they break down these compounds in order to remove them from the environment, but not necessarily to harvest energy from them. For example, the breakdown of formaldehydes does not provide the bacteria with usable energy - it expends energy to break this down, likely to remove that toxin from the environment, and while it will break down methane in order to derive energy, and this breakdown of methane will then produce formaldehydes, they prefer more complex sources of carbon (such as sugars, amino acids, etc).
The lifecycle of many of these Methylobacterium species depend on the dew - it's where they experience the highest rates of reproduction. In dryer conditions, these bacteria develop a biofilm layer to protect themselves from desiccation. As the dew forms, they will transfer from the surfaces of plants and the soil into the dew, undergo their replication processes, and when the dew dissipates, they settle again on the plants / environment, and slowly start producing their protective biofilm coatings. These mechanisms whereby these biofilm protective layers are produced react to changes in humidity and light. This biolfilm, also known as extracellular polymeric substances, can also be produced when the bacterial load in the dew gets so high that there is no more easily usable sources of carbon to break down.
Their reproduction rate can be as low as 2 hours in ideal dew conditions, with the most ideal temperature being 27C. 12 doubling cycles in a single day of incubating dew can produce a 4096-fold increase in the amount of bacteria. Multiple days of incubation can lead to a maximized bacterial load and depletion of food sources, and ultimately the start of decaying processes.
For processes that involve capturing dew, carefully allowing it to incubate at low temperatures for extended periods of time, one of the effects of this is the culturing of these Methylobacterium species. Subsequent putrefaction processes likely involve that breakdown and decay of the organic matter / bacterial load in the dew, as the bacteria, once there is no more food source remaining, will either auto-digest, or have a genetic switch activated by bacteriophages that ultimately accomplishes the same thing, and in the process release their inorganic nutrients, such as ammonium, phosphates, and nitrates back into the medium.
Depending on whether or not the flask is hermetically sealed or not, the resultant products will be different. In a sealed flask we end up with methane, organic acids, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and phosphines, and it will have a strong smell. In an open flask we end up with carbon dioxide (partially dissolved, partially off-gassed), sulfates, nitrates, and phosphates, with little to no smell.
You can read the original study here.
The takeaway is that dew contains more "life" per volume than sea water, regular atmospheric air, soil, etc, and it serves as a sort of a natural incubation environment or "birth place / womb" for certain species of bacteria. As the dew descends, and starts to envelop the plants near the surface o the ground, it extracts and dissolves various plant sugars, methanols, amino acids, and other compounds that are naturally secreted by plants. This produces a kind of a supercharged broth.
The most common bacteria in the dew are the Methylobacterium species that can break down methane containing compounds as well as formaldehydes, and in general a host of different compounds that contain carbon. In some cases it seems they break down these compounds in order to remove them from the environment, but not necessarily to harvest energy from them. For example, the breakdown of formaldehydes does not provide the bacteria with usable energy - it expends energy to break this down, likely to remove that toxin from the environment, and while it will break down methane in order to derive energy, and this breakdown of methane will then produce formaldehydes, they prefer more complex sources of carbon (such as sugars, amino acids, etc).
The lifecycle of many of these Methylobacterium species depend on the dew - it's where they experience the highest rates of reproduction. In dryer conditions, these bacteria develop a biofilm layer to protect themselves from desiccation. As the dew forms, they will transfer from the surfaces of plants and the soil into the dew, undergo their replication processes, and when the dew dissipates, they settle again on the plants / environment, and slowly start producing their protective biofilm coatings. These mechanisms whereby these biofilm protective layers are produced react to changes in humidity and light. This biolfilm, also known as extracellular polymeric substances, can also be produced when the bacterial load in the dew gets so high that there is no more easily usable sources of carbon to break down.
Their reproduction rate can be as low as 2 hours in ideal dew conditions, with the most ideal temperature being 27C. 12 doubling cycles in a single day of incubating dew can produce a 4096-fold increase in the amount of bacteria. Multiple days of incubation can lead to a maximized bacterial load and depletion of food sources, and ultimately the start of decaying processes.
For processes that involve capturing dew, carefully allowing it to incubate at low temperatures for extended periods of time, one of the effects of this is the culturing of these Methylobacterium species. Subsequent putrefaction processes likely involve that breakdown and decay of the organic matter / bacterial load in the dew, as the bacteria, once there is no more food source remaining, will either auto-digest, or have a genetic switch activated by bacteriophages that ultimately accomplishes the same thing, and in the process release their inorganic nutrients, such as ammonium, phosphates, and nitrates back into the medium.
Depending on whether or not the flask is hermetically sealed or not, the resultant products will be different. In a sealed flask we end up with methane, organic acids, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and phosphines, and it will have a strong smell. In an open flask we end up with carbon dioxide (partially dissolved, partially off-gassed), sulfates, nitrates, and phosphates, with little to no smell.
