Refreshing Fragrance Of Renewal

The Cleansing Spell Of Rain

As if to welcome the new year, our lovely state of Washington has been drenched for weeks, with rain and its refreshing fragrance.

I told someone recently that Washingtonians should have names for at least 20 different types of rain! There's the frizzy hair-inducing drizzly type, the large gloppy drop type, and the icy pellet type that hovers between hail and liquid.

But no matter why kind of rain we get, one thing is certain.

After it rains, the world is renewed. Leaves are glistening with lovely rain water that sculpts a streaming path to the ground. And upon walking outside after a rainfall, an intoxicating, earthy, refreshing fragrance greets you with every breath.

Streptomyces Coelicolor - The Scent Of Rain!

Streptomyces produce a chemical called geosmin that is responsible for the “scent of rain” and also that pungent, refreshing fragrance when soil is disturbed. Humans can smell geosmin at extremely low concentrations. And that olfactory threshold is such a gift!

Looking Glamorous While Detoxing Mother Earth

If I were Queen of the World, I’d wave my scepter and declare that all waste and toxins that pollute our earth must disappear! Ok, maybe that’s more like channeling a Fairy Godmother with her magic wand. Either title will do, for the deep, rich plush carpets formed by S. coelicolor actually accomplish an almost miraculous cleansing of pollutants in the soil!

Oozing jeweled antibiotic droplets from luxuriously textured rugs of colorful mycelial mats,

and filaments that snake out, branch-like, to disperse their spores, is it any wonder that S. coelicolor has become a Queen, a Fairy, a movie star and a glamorous diva – for its fantasy-evoking presence and colorful life-style?

Streptomyces Act Like Fungi

Streptomyces act very much like fungi in their life cycle. They develop a vegetative mycelium from a spore, then they shoot up strands called aerial mycelia that develop spores for the cycle to start all over again. Usually bacteria divide by cell division, creating two totally separate sister cells. But due to her ability for cell differentiation, Streptomyces create chains of cells linked together to form a branching mycelium network.

Time Lapse Video

Microbiologists have filmed S. coelicolor, creating time-lapse video to tease out the secrets of its unusual filamentous growth patterns. The link to the video is here.

Haiku

You can find more detailed descriptions of S. coelicolor in my guidebook, both scientific and spiritual. But I will end this note today, but sharing the Haiku I created for S. coelicolor. (there are 44 Haikus in the Guidebook, one for each of the Microbe Animal Guides in the Microbe Whisperer Oracle deck!)

The Deck of 44 Microbe Whisperer Cards

Haiku for S. Coelicolor

Cleanses with rain scents

in coats of many colors,

Droplets of defense.

by JeM YinJoy

Enjoy the Fragrance of the World Renewed, Dear Aspiring Microbe Whisperers!

Dr. JeM YinJoy