Amino Acid Measurements (IMAGE) Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Caption The white boxes show the concentrations of amino acids, which are high in the vicinity of cooperative bacteria (above). In contrast, virtually no amino acids were detectable in areas surrounding non-cooperative bacteria (below). This study is the first one to successfully use modern chemical-analytic techniques to visualize the spatial distribution of metabolites and in this way explain the growth of a bacterial colony consisting of cooperating bacteria. Credit S. Pande, F. Kaftan / Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology; S. Lang / Department of Bioinformatics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.