Comments on: Snow-making bacteria are everywhere

By: Bacteria in the sky, making it rain, snow, and hail | Highly Allochthonous

Bacteria in the sky, making it rain, snow, and hail | Highly Allochthonous — Fri, 27 May 2011 14:11:09 +0000

[...] particularly good at ice nucleation (IN), causing it to occur at temperatures as high as -2 °C. As Ed Yong described 3 years ago: Ice-forming bacteria like Pseudomonas syringae rely on a unique protein that studs their surfaces. [...]

By: Glendon Mellow

Glendon Mellow — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 03:24:22 +0000

That’s kind of amazing.
Makes you wonder about snowfall on other planets…if there is any, other than ice particles being wind-battered around Mars.

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:56:54 +0000

@chezjake, It’s worth noting that the last couple of paragraphs *are* indeed speculation, which in general, I try to signify through a smattering of “could”, “may” and “might”. I quite liked the visual, but your point about the frost effect on plants is entirely valid and probably better.

By: Anne

Anne — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:02:29 +0000

I like this blog. It’s a relief to have someone present research papers minus the jargon.

By: chezjake

chezjake — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:24:28 +0000

It’s sort of implied, but not definitely stated, in the Wikipedia entry that P. syringea survives freezing when it serves as a frost nucleator on the surface of plants. Is there any evidence of them surviving the potentially much colder temperatures in the atmosphere when they form nuclei for snowflakes? Have viable organisms been cultured from a fresh snowfall?
If not, then your idea of them using the clouds for transport is pure speculation. It seems more likely that the evolution of the ice nucleation protein was influenced by the ability of frost to damage plants already occupied by the bacteria, the frost disruption making the plant’s nutritious fluids more accessible, as stated at Wikipedia.