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Predicting Where Bacteria Will Be Happy

A machine has been developed to predict which bacteria prefer which pH and how they adapt to that pH.

Main Points Of The Article:

The work involved sorting through the genomes of more than 250,000 types of bacteria from nearly 1,500 soil, lake, and stream samples.

The discovery may help scientists cultivate colonies of fussy bacteria they have never been able to grow by providing a first guess as to what pH to employ, which is one of the finding's most urgent consequences. According to Fierer, the machine-learning approach could shorten the time it takes to "culture" bacteria so that they can be studied in the lab significantly shorter.

Now, they may get quicker, better insight into the types of bacteria that might help restore a native prairie vs. pine forests, or to grow corn or soybeans better, by ensuring that inoculants will be adapted to the local pH.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER. Microbes Meet Machine Learning: A pHenomenal Discovery. APRIL 28, 2023. https://scitechdaily.com/microbes-meet-machine-learning-a-phenomenal-discovery/?expand_article=1