{"id":3687,"date":"2014-03-31T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=3687"},"modified":"2021-07-23T10:49:54","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T14:49:54","slug":"the-magic-in-mold-and-dirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2014\/03\/31\/the-magic-in-mold-and-dirt\/","title":{"rendered":"The Magic in Mold and Dirt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Circulating Now welcomes guest bloggers <\/em>Diane Wendt<\/a> and Mallory Warner<\/a> from the Division of Medicine and Science at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History<\/a>. As curators of our most recent exhibition, <\/i>From DNA to Beer: Harnessing Nature in Medicine and Industry<\/a>, Diane and Mallory spent months researching four different microbes and the influence they\u2019ve had on human life. <\/i><\/p>\n

One of our favorite objects in the exhibition From DNA to Beer<\/i> is a bag of dirt.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe humblest spadeful of earth from your garden contains almost unbelievable medical magic.\u201d\u2014<\/i>J.D.Ratcliff, Yellow Magic<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Soil sample, 1949
Courtesy National Museum of American History<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This \u201cdirt bag\u201d (as it was affectionately dubbed by Library staff) was donated to the Smithsonian in 1953 by the pharmaceutical firm Charles Pfizer & Company and its story is delightfully told in the book Our Smallest Servants<\/a><\/i> (Charles Pfizer & Co., 1955).<\/p>\n

The tiny \u201cservants\u201d of the title are none other than the innumerable microorganisms that inhabit our world, specifically those that have been \u201charnessed\u201d to do our bidding.\u00a0 In the words of Pfizer\u2019s then President, John E. McKeen, who introduces the book, \u201cThis book deals with one of the most momentous and far-reaching of all scientific achievements: the ability to harness microscopic living creatures in the service of mankind<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main delight in this book lies in its imaginative illustrations beginning with the array of Petri dishes on the cover and the cut-away circle and culture of \u201cmold\u201d that follows you as you page through the book.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
\u201cThis is a mold. On the cover it is surrounded by Petri dishes which are used in the laboratory to cultivate molds.\u201d <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The cover of Our Smallest Servants, 1955 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
\u201cMolds are both harmful and helpful to man.\u201d <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Further on in the book we learn that the name of this mold is Penicillium chrysogenum. <\/i>This particular microorganism was recovered from a moldy cantaloupe purchased at a market in Peoria, Illinois in the early 1940s.\u00a0 The rotten fruit was taken to a nearby government laboratory where researchers were working around the clock to try to find ways to mass-produce penicillin.\u00a0 The antibiotic, which is produced by the Penicillium<\/i> mold, was first discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming.\u00a0 However it was not yet a useful medicine because it could not be manufactured on a large scale. To give a sense of the magnitude of the problem, the author relates that in 1939 you could recover more gold from ordinary seawater than penicillin from a Penicillium<\/i> culture.<\/p>\n

The discovery of Penicillium chrysogenum,<\/i> which replaced Fleming\u2019s mold Penicillium notatum<\/i> in the research work, was an important step in meeting this challenge. The new mold produced a much higher yield of penicillin, and it could thrive in enormous, deep tanks of a special nutrient broth. In the author\u2019s words, \u201cFeeding on a newly formulated liquid composed mainly of water in which corn had been steeped, the disciplined mold produced tons of the antibiotic in time to save thousands of Allied lives.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An <\/a>
One of the first new penicillin plants built during WWII included 15,000 gallon fermentation tanks for growing the mold. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Two <\/a>
Penicillin produced by Charles Pfizer and Company, 1943-44. Courtesy National Museum of American History <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

And so we have a wonderful story about a moldy fruit \u2026 but what about our dirt bag?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
This fanciful illustration from the book of the lush microbial world is one of our favorites.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the same time researchers were working on penicillin, scientists at a laboratory at Rutgers University were busy studying the properties of microorganisms isolated from the soil.\u00a0 The scientists laboriously cultivated thousands of samples before they found the bacteria Streptomyces griseus, <\/i>which yielded an important new antibiotic, streptomycin.\u00a0 Streptomycin was effective against many bacterial infections that were resistant to penicillin including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, <\/i>which causes tuberculosis.<\/p>\n

The success of penicillin and streptomycin prompted a tremendous, world-wide search for new, useful microorganisms, and in this \u201cglobal treasure hunt<\/i>\u201d American pharmaceutical laboratories led the way. Soil, naturally rich in microbial life, was a good place to search.\u00a0 As our author explains:<\/p>\n

\u201cAny reasonably typical teaspoonful of rich, moist earth contains numerous colonies of microbial existence, with a combined population of as many as three hundred million organisms. Under the microscope, a pinch of such soil springs to life and stands revealed as a lush, spectacularly beautiful and unremittingly violent jungle, in which strange beings wage endless war for food, water, living space, and survival.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
The bag of dirt!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pfizer Company alone screened over 100,000 soil samples, before it hit pay dirt:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1949, a bit of earth which had been spooned up near one of Pfizer\u2019s own Middle Western plants was found to contain an actinomycete worthy of extensive investigation.\u00a0 The creature was named <\/i>Streptomyces rimosus, and the canary yellow crystals of its antibiotic were called Terramycin<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And finally we find our dirt bag\u2014one of the many soil samples collected and screened by the Pfizer Company. Ironically, although they collected soil from all over the world \u2013 as alluded to in this illustration from the book \u2013 the winning dirt was found almost literally in their backyard.\u00a0 The bag of dirt donated to the Smithsonian and now on display at the National Library of Medicine contains some of this sample. Terramycin proved to be effective against a wide range of diseases\u2014nearly one hundred\u2014including typhus and Rocky Mountain fever.<\/p>\n

We last meet our mold among a field of cattle, as our story relates how antibiotics such as Terramycin were found to be effective growth promoters.\u00a0 When animal feed is enriched with antibiotics, livestock such as poultry and swine \u201creach market size sooner, and on less feed.\u201d\u00a0 More meat for the money is one way to look at it.<\/p>\n

\"Cows <\/a>
Cows by a large barn complex. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Four <\/a>
Terramycin products for poultry and livestock, early 1960s. Courtesy National Museum of American History <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

We don\u2019t know the end of the antibiotic story, but we do know that it has become increasingly complicated over the years since the publication of Our Smallest Servants<\/i>.\u00a0 Already by the mid 1950\u2019s concern arose over penicillin residue in milk, and the Asian flu pandemic of 1957-58 introduced the public to the emergence of antibiotic resistant microorganisms.\u00a0 Responsible antibiotic use has been a subject of debate ever since, and recently the FDA has issued new guidelines <\/a>concerning their use in animal feed. Our relationship with \u201cour smallest servants\u201d continues to evolve.<\/p>\n

Explore<\/em> From DNA to Beer: Harnessing Nature in Medicine & Industry online for yourself at http:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/exhibition\/fromdnatobeer\/index.html<\/a>. To book the traveling exhibition or see when it comes to your town, visit the traveling exhibition page at http:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/hmd\/about\/exhibition\/fromdnatobeer-bookinfo.html<\/a>. Read more posts in this series here<\/a>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Circulating Now welcomes guest bloggers Diane Wendt and Mallory Warner from the Division of Medicine and Science at the Smithsonian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19605840,"featured_media":3784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12763,2029,207572835,51014,2347],"tags":[521,490,15833,26103,15888,6200,15734],"class_list":["post-3687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collections","category-exhibitions","category-from-dna-to-beer","category-guests","category-series","tag-advertising","tag-animals","tag-antibiotics","tag-biotechnology","tag-collaboration","tag-drugs","tag-plants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/0335_001_feature.png?fit=932%2C359&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xcDk-Xt","jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19605840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3687"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21743,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3687\/revisions\/21743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}