Ich bin ein phototropes Bakterium

If aliens from outside the planet visit the Earth, they would probably miss the ecologic niche where phototrophic bacteria live and prosper, and would probably take off without bringing with them a sample of these fantastic microorganisms. It would be a real pity. Phototrophic bacteria are amongst the oldest inhabitants of the planet we live in, and represent a model that humankind has learned to appreciate in several useful fields, from environmental applications to artificial photosynthesis to cell factory. A short journey through the live of these phototrophic bacteria will be presented, focussing on their on-going or potential applications deriving of the exploitation of their metabolic and enzymatic activities. In other words, taking advantages of processes of different scales of complexity that these microorganism are able to perform depending on the size and degree of completeness of the bacterial structures involved.