Bacteria have remarkable strategies and abilities to adapt to their surroundings. For them, these abilities are essential to survive and grow. For us, these are superpowers that we can only dream of.
Gladly, we learned to use some of these bacterial superpowers to improve our own lives. This means that bacteria and their superpowers are pretty much everywhere you look. You can find their impact in the food you eat, the medicine you take or the bioplastics you use.
So, yes, you probably use microbes and their superpowers daily without even realising. In this article, we listed 20 of the most fascinating bacterial superpowers and how they help not only bacteria but also us.
Bacteria know exactly where they are going
Bacteria have a so-called flagellum with which they can swim in liquids. This flagellum works together with the super responsive chemotaxis system.
This fascinating mechanism helps bacteria understand where beneficial nutrients or harmful compounds are. The bacterium then decides to swim towards or away from that compound. Chemotaxis is thus essential for the survival of bacteria.
Read Chemotaxis helps bacteria move towards goodies
Bacteria are high-speed swimmers
With the above-mentioned flagella, bacteria can move in liquids. When they rotate their flagella, they can swim in one direction which helps them find nutrients or escape harmful situations.
Interestingly, the Olympic recordist for 50 metres freestyle swims 1.17 body lengths per second. However, the bacterium Escherichia coli swims 15 body lengths per second and the tiny Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus swims even 10x faster, moving 160 body lengths in one second.
Read Bacteria wrap themselves in their swimming flagella
Floating veils for large bacteria to attach to and fetch nutrients
Bacteria produce oxygen and give superpowers to everyone
This may sound a little trivial because we take oxygen for granted. But bacteria known as cyanobacteria first produced oxygen on this planet. A large part of the atmosphere’s oxygen today is produced in oceans by these bacteria and other single-celled organisms.
You can also find more on cyanobacteria in this article.
Bacteria can produce electricity
Some bacteria can align into long filaments – so-called cable bacteria. This alignment allows bacteria to produce electrons on one side by oxidizing metals. They can then transport the electrons along the filament. Bacteria on the other side of the filament use these electrons for oxygen reduction.
Thus, bacteria produce an electric current within certain water sediments, which researchers measured. Maybe one day they can use these filaments in some kind of seawater-based batteries.
Read Cable bacteria – unusual bacteria conduct electricity
Bacteria use superpowers to align to the magnetic fields
Some bacteria, like the Magnetospirillum, that live in water, have so-called magnetosomes. These are storage units for iron crystal-like structures. The iron inside can align with a magnetic field and even along the magnetic Earth field.
These aligned magnetosomes then give magnetic momentum to the bacterium. Based on that, the bacterium aligns itself with the magnetic field and can find an optimal location in its environment.
Read How bacteria read and follow the Earth’s magnetic field
Bacteria can reduce and produce gold – highly valuable bacterial superpowers
In gold mines in Australia, researchers found bacteria that form biofilms on gold particles. For example, the bacteria Delftia acidovorans and Cupriavidus metallidurans can reduce toxic gold-ions to elementary gold.
This means that these bacteria are directly involved in the biogeochemical cycling of this precious metal.
Bacteria kill their competitors
To survive and grow, bacteria have learned to outcompete other bacteria and microbes. For this, they developed fascinating nanoweapons that kill their competitors and leave them as the sole survivor.
Interestingly, there are several different of these bacterial nanoweapons, all working slightly differently. Read more about this bacterial superpower:
Bacterial killer weapons as biocontrol to protect plants
Nanoweapons make the killer differences in bacterial siblings
Understanding the type 6 secretion system spike of a bacterial killer machine
Bacteria and contact-dependent growth inhibition: Death on a stick
Bacteria have various superpowers to protect their hosts
Microbes and bacteria live in and around bigger organisms like the human body, plants or animals. They developed fascinating mechanisms to protect their hosts and support them in different ways.
Bacteria might help them digest food, help them grow or fight off harmful intruders. For example, our bodies would not work without the microbiome – all those microbes and bacteria in and on us. Read more about the human microbiome:
How bacteria in your gut microbiome defend pathogens
Bacteria on your hands strengthen your unique skin microbiome
“Follow your gut instinct” – how your gut microbiome influences your mental health
How a healthy gut microbiome protects you and how to keep its superpower
Bacteria and their superpowers light the way
Some bacteria have the superpower to produce light in a process called bioluminescence.
Interestingly, bioluminescent bacteria often live with other organisms in symbiosis. For example, some bioluminescent bacteria occupy the lure of the female anglerfish. This fish also uses them as a fishing rod for hunting.
Bacteria withstand heat and cold
Whether too cold or too hot. Some bacteria really don’t care.
Certain bacteria can survive at temperatures as low as -20°C, which is why they are called hypothermophiles. On the contrary, other bacteria live in hot water steams up to 122°C. Similarly, these bacteria are hyperthermophiles.
These extremophiles have special repair enzymes to keep their DNA and cell envelope intact even at such extreme temperatures. Consequently, some of these enzymes are being used in research and are daily tools in each research lab. Learn more about extremophiles:
Even at the dark and cold bottom of the sea, microbes flourish
Bacteria tolerate harmful radiation
Another extreme-loving bacterium: the radiotolerant Deinococcus radiodurans. This bacterium has very efficient proteins to protect its DNA. Plus, it produces special DNA repair machines. They super quickly recognize and repair any damage in the DNA after exposure to radiation.
With these mechanisms, these extremophiles can survive exposure to ionizing radiation. Some bacteria even survive in the cooling systems of nuclear reactors.
Bacteria go to sleep by forming spores
Some bacteria can form so-called spores which are bacteria “on hold”.
Bacteria go into this state in times of greatest starvation or drought. Their aim is to keep its genetic material safe while turning down all non-essential functions. In this state, bacteria do not have an active metabolism nor do they interact with the environment. They solely wait for better times to come until nutrients become available again.
Bacteria produce some of our favourite foods
Did you know that bacteria produce many of the foods you are consuming? By fermenting sugars to alcohols or acids, lactic bacteria and some yeasts give a delicious taste to common foods like cheese, yoghurt and kefir, kombucha, kimchi and sauerkraut, beer and wine, as well as chocolate.
Reason enough to be grateful for bacterial superpowers to produce amazing foods.
Bacteria can endure high pressure in the deep sea
Researchers found bacteria that can live up to 10 km deep inside the ocean. Yes!
This means these bacteria can endure pressures of up to 100 MPa. But, researchers don’t know yet how these bacterial cells function at such high pressure. However, they think that the proteins inside these bacteria form some kind of super glue-like complexes. This would then make the bacterial content more viscous to endure the pressure.
Read Even at the dark and cold bottom of the sea, microbes flourish
Bacteria produce oil
Many microorganisms, amongst them bacteria, produce natural oils which is why they are called oleaginous microorganisms. Mainly algae, bacteria and yeasts can produce biodiesel, while fungi, and some algae can produce healthy omega-3 fatty acids.
Now, researchers focus on engineering these organisms to enhance the accumulation of produced lipids, biodiesel and omega-3 fatty acids.
Bacteria repair their DNA super efficiently
Bacteria have to endure all sorts of environmental stresses, for example, temperature changes, antibiotics or challenges by competitors. To ensure that under all circumstances, their DNA remains undamaged after an attack, bacteria developed incredibly efficient DNA repair and fixing machines. These machines recognise any small damage in the DNA.
Read
How does Salmonella deal with stress – a journey through the human body
Bacteria destroy proteins to understand the environment
Bacteria nucleate ice and let it rain
Some bacteria can trigger water to form ice crystals at temperatures close to the melting point. One of these bacteria is Pseudomonas syringae.
This bacterium has special proteins on its outer surface that interact with water and triggers ice formation. These bacteria are even used to produce artificial snow in winter sports areas around the world.
Bacteria keep our environment clean
Some bacteria surely love their heavy metals! Many bacteria have special enzymes to reduce toxic metal ions. These bacteria are even used to clean waste in industrial waters or mines and are the basis for green chemistry.
Read Microbial bioremediation: microbes cleaning-up our toxic messes
Bacteria can change our blood types for a short amount of time
Some bacteria live in our blood and when they get hungry, they start cleaving off sugar molecules from our red blood cells. While this is not harmful to us at all, in clinical tests, this may look like a different blood type than our original one.
However, as soon as the body produces new blood cells, they will have our original sugars and therefore our normal blood type.
Read Bacteria changing blood types
Some bacteria are super small
Super small but super powerful!
While bacteria have all these superpowers, I am most amazed by the fact that they are so tiny and yet SO powerful. All these superpowers in such a small box!
To actually see bacteria, we need microscopes. And to have really good photographs of them, we then need EXTREMELY good microscopes. Look at the bacterial cells in the pictures here! They are just about 2 micrometres long…
Thank bacteria and their superpowers
After having read this list of bacterial superpowers, are you even more amazed by our bacterial friends now? Which of these bacterial superpowers is your favourite? Which of them would you like to learn more about? Let us know in the comment section below or send us an email with your question. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
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