Jessica Mo Art

I created this artwork for Dr. Erin Green of the Skaar lab by creating simple vector shapes in Adobe Illustrator. We wanted to show that the regular MumR in the bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii is important in combating manganese starvation and contributes to H2O2 resistance, promoting virulence. I wanted to depict the relationship between MumR and the ability of A. baumannii to invade a host.
In my art, A. baumannii is shown as an alien in a spaceship invading a planet. Because A. baumannii is a bacterial invader, I thought that it was fitting to depict the bacteria as space invaders, hence the spaceships. Additionally, in popular culture, bacteria, like aliens, are often depicted as slimy green organisms.
Because MumR helps combat manganese starvation, I decided to make the backdrop a desert, as deserts are known to be places of scarcity. Manganese can be seen as a few gray blobs in the sand. It can be seen that despite the rarity of manganese in the desert, the aliens are still able to invade the planet.
The planet's defense system is represented by immune cells and H2O2, a reactive oxygen species. The immune cells are shown as a white fighter jet trying to shoot down the alien spaceships with bubbles of H2O2. However, just as MumR contributes to H2O2 resistance, the shieldlike forcefields around the alien spaceships help protect them against the assault.