--- title: Acne: New Bacteria P Acnes Zappae Named After Frank Zappa description: Pass the Clearasil canonical: https://time.com/12229/mother-of-invention-new-strain-of-acne-causing-bacteria-named-after-frank-zappa/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-04T13:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:07:26.083Z og:title: Acne: New Bacteria P Acnes Zappae Named After Frank Zappa og:description: Pass the Clearasil og:url: https://time.com/12229/mother-of-invention-new-strain-of-acne-causing-bacteria-named-after-frank-zappa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb971688834773941/698683d355a859a087a7f87b/107723817.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3037 og:image:height: 1708 og:image:alt: Tom Hill Archive - File Photos og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Acne: New Bacteria P Acnes Zappae Named After Frank Zappa twitter:description: Pass the Clearasil twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb971688834773941/698683d355a859a087a7f87b/107723817.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mother Of Invention: New Strain Of Acne-Causing Bacteria Named After Frank Zappa > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 4, 2014 1:00 PM UTC  Frank Zappa performs at the University of Georgia Coliseum on March 15, 1973 in Athens, Georgia. Frank Zappa performs at the University of Georgia Coliseum on March 15, 1973 in Athens, Georgia. Tom Hill—WireImage by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 4, 2014 1:00 PM UTC While The Beatles may have more Grammys, Frank Zappa just got a new strain of acne-causing bacteria named after him. Researchers at Italy’s Centre for Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Bioresources have discovered a form of acne-causing bacteria living in grapevines and elected to call it _P Acnes Zappae_, in tribute to the experimental rock musician and member of seminal rock band Mothers of Invention, who passed away in 1993, reports[_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/18/acne-bacteria-frank-zappa-grapes/5560493/). Like its namesake, _P Acnes Zappae_ is unique. The strain of bacteria came about from the transfer of human bacteria onto a plant, in this case a grapevine. It’s the first time that a micro-organism has been found to make the jump from people to plants. While the scientists may have named the spot-causing bacteria after Zappa, he is by no means to blame for the zit outbreak happening on your chin right now, as the researchers estimate the adaptation happened around 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, according to their report in the journal [Molecular Biology and Evolution](http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/). The scientists credit Zappa for inspiring their outside-the-box thinking that lead to the discovery. They were studying the grapevine’s microbiome —the community of microorganisms that live in the grapevine — and were surprised to find _P. acnes_, a human pimple-causing bacteria, living peacefully among the grapes. As they tried to figure out how the bacteria had gotten in the grapes, instead of chalking up the bacteria to cross-contamination from humans, the scientists did something [“Zappa-style,”](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/18/acne-bacteria-frank-zappa-grapes/5560493/) and “thought outside the box, worked on it, and found something very, very unexpected.” “Frank Zappa was a very eccentric musician and somehow very unexpected in his behavior,” said Campisano, speaking to [CNN](http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/18/zit-causing-bug-bears-frank-zappas-name/). “We really did not expect this (discovery) and we thought of him.” Zappa’s widow, Gail Zappa, thinks naming the bacteria after her husband is a great way to honor her husband’s legacy of outside-the-box thinking. “They pursued it, they didn’t just think, ‘This is something that’s irrelevant or unimportant.’ They realized that every piece fits together,”[ she told USA Today](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/18/acne-bacteria-frank-zappa-grapes/5560493/). “For me this is just an extension of Frank’s means of gluing things together, making sense of the universe. It’s strictly conceptual continuity.” _P. Zappae_ is not the first time that a scientific discovery has been named after the rock legend. A mollusk (_Amaurotoma zappa_), a new [genus of fish, ](http://www.fishwisepro.com/Genus/details.aspx?GId=6320)jellyfish, spiders and even an asteroid( 3834 Zappafrank) all bear the Zappa name. Now, if those Mothers of Invention could put their minds to improving Clearasil. **MORE**: [The Duke of Prunes: Frank Zappa (1940-1993)](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979871,00.html) **MORE**: [LIFE With Rock Stars . . . and Their Parents](http://life.time.com/culture/clapton-zappa-elton-john-photos-of-rock-stars-with-their-parents/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/12229/mother-of-invention-new-strain-of-acne-causing-bacteria-named-after-frank-zappa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/12229/mother-of-invention-new-strain-of-acne-causing-bacteria-named-after-frank-zappa/"},"headline":"Mother Of Invention: New Strain Of Acne-Causing Bacteria Named After Frank Zappa","datePublished":"2014-03-04T13:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:26.083Z","description":"Pass the Clearasil","url":"https://time.com/12229/mother-of-invention-new-strain-of-acne-causing-bacteria-named-after-frank-zappa/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Music","Science topic","Research","health","Acne","Bacteria"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb971688834773941/698683d355a859a087a7f87b/107723817.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb971688834773941/698683d355a859a087a7f87b/107723817.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tom Hill Archive - File Photos","caption":"Tom Hill Archive - File Photos","creditText":"Tom Hill—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/12229/mother-of-invention-new-strain-of-acne-causing-bacteria-named-after-frank-zappa/","name":"Mother Of Invention: New Strain Of Acne-Causing Bacteria Named After Frank Zappa"}}]}] ```