Acne Bacterium that Lives in Grapevines Named after Frank Zappa

A zit-causing bacterium has been named after rock legend, Frank Zappa.

According to the researchers, they named the bacterium P. acnes type Zappae after the rock legend due to its unconventional evolution. The bacterium jumped from humans to plants some 7,000 years ago and now lives in grapevines.

Researchers named the bacterium "zappa," meaning, hoe and also after the rock legend. "This bacteria is so unconventional in its behavior, and its new habitat is so unexpected that we thought of Frank Zappa. Indeed, at the time we were discovering it, we were both playing a Zappa album in our cars," say authors Andrea Campisano and Omar Rota-Stabelli, according to a news release.

Frank Zappa had once written about "sand-blasted zits," in the song "Jewish Princess," from the album "Sheik Yerbouti."

Teenagers around the world know what it is like to be the host for zit-causing bacterium P.acne. In the latest study, researchers found that P. acnes type Zappae colonizes bark tissues, and the pith. The bacterium, they say, has successfully jumped from humans to grapevines.

The research team found the bacterium via a 16S rDNA gene-based microbiome analysis obtained from stems of plants taken from several sites throughout Italy.

Campisano, even studied the evolutionary history of P. Zappae and found that it currently depends on its plant host for survival. Their research shows that the bacterium might have jumped from humans to grapevines some 7,000 years back when humans began grafting and pruning the plants.

The study is published in the journal Molecular Biology.

Kooteninchela deppi (after Johnny Depp), The Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae fly (Beyonce), Preseucoila (Elvis Presley), Aegrotocatellus Jaggeri  (Mick Jagger), and  Cirolana mercury (Freddie Mercury) are some examples of other creatures named after celebrities.

P. acnes type Zappae joins the long-list of organisms named after Zappa. There is a  jellyfish, an orb-web spider, a mudfish and an extinct shellfish bearing his name. There is even an asteroid called 3834 Zappafrank named after the soul-patched rock icon, CNN reported.

Naming newly discovered species after legends is sometimes a ploy used by researchers to meet their favorite stars. Ferdinando ("Nando") Boero, jellyfish expert and a Zappa fan, had earlier described how he chose to identify and name his discovery after FZ to get a chance to meet the legend (and he did).

"There is nothing I'd like better than having a jellyfish named after me," FZ, said in a letter from Gail Zappa to Boero, June 29, 1983.