The bacterial strain Aliivibrio sp. EL57 was featured last week in the BlueTreasure edition of the Portuguese Blue Biobank.
This strain is part of a fascinating group of bioluminescent bacteria that can glow in the dark when they reach high population densities. This ability to recognize the population density is driven by quorum sensing, a mechanism that allows the bacteria to detect and respond to their surroundings.
Aliivibrio sp. EL57 was isolated from the octocoral Eunicella labiata Thomson, 1927, sampled off the coast of Faro, Portugal.
It is a valuable part of the MicroEcoEvo collection (Microbial Ecology and Evolution Research Group), housed at the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (iBB), Instituto Superior Técnico.
Isolation and Strain Curation: Tina Keller-Costa and Rodrigo Costa
📸Tina Keller-Costa and Matilde Marques