458: Slimy Cells Stop Sinking

BacterioFiles

コンテンツは Jesse Noar によって提供されます。エピソード、グラフィック、ポッドキャストの説明を含むすべてのポッドキャストコンテンツは、Jesse Noar またはそのポッドキャストプラットフォームパートナーによって直接アップロードされ、提供されます。誰かがあなたの著作物をあなたの許可なく使用していると思われる場合は、ここで概説されているプロセスに従うことができますhttps://ja.player.fm/legal。

3y ago 15:14

MP3•エピソードのホーム

This episode: Bacteria can resist the force of gravity in liquid culture by covering themselves with goopy sugar polymers like parachutes!

Download Episode (10.4 MB, 15.2 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Brevicoryne brassicae virus

Takeaways Put bacteria in a centrifuge, and most of the time you end up with a compact pellet of cells at the bottom of the tube, and mostly cell-free liquid above it. Bacteria do have ways to remain suspended in liquid, even without constant stirring or shaking of the container, but swimming, for example, consumes energy. In this study, artificial selection allowed the discovery of bacteria that could resist centrifuging speeds up to 15000 times the force of gravity, remaining suspended in liquid instead of forming a pellet. Production of polysaccharide was important, but not sufficient; for the most resistance to sinking, bacteria had to attach the polysaccharide to their cell surface, to act as a sort of parachute. Journal Paper: Kessler NG, Caraballo Delgado DM, Shah NK, Dickinson JA, Moore SD. 2021. Exopolysaccharide Anchoring Creates an Extreme Resistance to Sedimentation. J Bacteriol 203(11):e00023-21.