Open AccessBeijerinck and the bioluminescent bacteria: microbiological experiments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Author(s) -
Robertson Lesley A.,
Figge Marian J.,
Dunlap Paul V.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
fems microbiology ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.377
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1574-6941
pISSN - 0168-6496
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.01004.x
Subject(s) - biology , bioluminescence , bacteria , microorganism , ingenuity , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , genetics , neoclassical economics , economics
Microbiological research in the days before specialized equipment, or even electricity, required a great deal of ingenuity. The revival of 90‐year‐old bioluminescent bacteria from Beijerinck's laboratory in Delft prompted a review of his work with these microorganisms and revealed their use in simple techniques for the investigation of, among other things, sugar metabolism in yeasts, oxygen generation and uptake and even the survival of microorganisms in liquid hydrogen. He used variant strains of bioluminescent bacteria in an attempt to study heredity and variation in biological systems and described one of the earliest examples of enzyme induction.