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Aging of a Bacterial Colony Enforces the Evolvement of Nondifferentiating Mutants
Bacteria in nature are known to survive for long periods under restricting conditions, mainly by reducing their growth rate and metabolic activity. Here, we uncover a novel strategy utilized by bacterial cells to resist aging by propagating rather than halting division. Bacterial aging was monitored...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
American Society for Microbiology
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6722413/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31481381 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01414-19 |
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author | Hashuel, Rachel Ben-Yehuda, Sigal |
author_facet | Hashuel, Rachel Ben-Yehuda, Sigal |
author_sort | Hashuel, Rachel |
collection | PubMed |
description | Bacteria in nature are known to survive for long periods under restricting conditions, mainly by reducing their growth rate and metabolic activity. Here, we uncover a novel strategy utilized by bacterial cells to resist aging by propagating rather than halting division. Bacterial aging was monitored by inspecting colonies of the Gram-positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis, which is capable of differentiating into various cell types under nutrient exhaustion. We revealed that after days of incubation, rejuvenating subpopulations, arrayed over the mother colony, emerged. These subpopulations were found to harbor mutations in a variety of genes, restricting the ability of the cells to differentiate. Surprisingly, even mutations that are not classically designated to developmental pathways, concluded in differentiation deficiency, indicating that multiple paths can reach this same outcome. We provide evidence that the evolved mutants continue to divide under conditions that favor entry into quiescence, hence becoming abundant within the aging population. The occurrence of such nondifferentiating mutants could impact bacterial population dynamics in natural niches. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6722413 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-67224132019-09-11 Aging of a Bacterial Colony Enforces the Evolvement of Nondifferentiating Mutants Hashuel, Rachel Ben-Yehuda, Sigal mBio Research Article Bacteria in nature are known to survive for long periods under restricting conditions, mainly by reducing their growth rate and metabolic activity. Here, we uncover a novel strategy utilized by bacterial cells to resist aging by propagating rather than halting division. Bacterial aging was monitored by inspecting colonies of the Gram-positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis, which is capable of differentiating into various cell types under nutrient exhaustion. We revealed that after days of incubation, rejuvenating subpopulations, arrayed over the mother colony, emerged. These subpopulations were found to harbor mutations in a variety of genes, restricting the ability of the cells to differentiate. Surprisingly, even mutations that are not classically designated to developmental pathways, concluded in differentiation deficiency, indicating that multiple paths can reach this same outcome. We provide evidence that the evolved mutants continue to divide under conditions that favor entry into quiescence, hence becoming abundant within the aging population. The occurrence of such nondifferentiating mutants could impact bacterial population dynamics in natural niches. American Society for Microbiology 2019-09-03 /pmc/articles/PMC6722413/ /pubmed/31481381 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01414-19 Text en Copyright © 2019 Hashuel and Ben-Yehuda. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Research Article Hashuel, Rachel Ben-Yehuda, Sigal Aging of a Bacterial Colony Enforces the Evolvement of Nondifferentiating Mutants |
title | Aging of a Bacterial Colony Enforces the Evolvement of Nondifferentiating Mutants |
title_full | Aging of a Bacterial Colony Enforces the Evolvement of Nondifferentiating Mutants |
title_fullStr | Aging of a Bacterial Colony Enforces the Evolvement of Nondifferentiating Mutants |
title_full_unstemmed | Aging of a Bacterial Colony Enforces the Evolvement of Nondifferentiating Mutants |
title_short | Aging of a Bacterial Colony Enforces the Evolvement of Nondifferentiating Mutants |
title_sort | aging of a bacterial colony enforces the evolvement of nondifferentiating mutants |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6722413/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31481381 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01414-19 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT hashuelrachel agingofabacterialcolonyenforcestheevolvementofnondifferentiatingmutants AT benyehudasigal agingofabacterialcolonyenforcestheevolvementofnondifferentiatingmutants |