Image of the Day: Beautiful Bacteria 

"Dancing Microbes” by Ana Tsitsishvili, an undergraduate student at the Agricultural University of Georgia, earned third place.  

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY'S 3RD ANNUAL AGAR ART CONTEST

   The artist, Ana Tsitsishvili from Tbilisi, Georgia, won third place with this arrangement of bacteria and fungi on brain-heart infusion agar. The common skin microbe, Staphylococcus epidermidis, is responsible for the white color; Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, common in milk, soil, and air, makes pink; Micrococcus luteus, frequently found in soil, water, air, and skin, is responsible for the lady's luscious yellow locks; Xanthomonas axonopodis, a pathogenic plant microbe, makes green. Combinations of these various microbes make up everything in between.