Microbial life in slow and stopped lanes

Trends Microbiol. 2023 Dec 19:S0966-842X(23)00331-1. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2023.11.014. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMicrobes in nature often lack nutrients and face extreme or widely fluctuating temperatures, unlike microbes in growth-optimized settings in laboratories that much of the literature examines. Slowed or suspended lives are the norm for microbes. Studying them is important for understanding the consequences of climate change and for addressing fundamental questions about life: are there limits to how slowly a cell's life can progress, and how long cells can remain viable without self-replicating? Recent studies began addressing these questions with single-cell-level measurements and mathematical models. Emerging principles that govern slowed or suspended lives of cells - including lives of dormant spores and microbes at extreme temperatures - are re-defining discrete cellular states as continuums and revealing intracellular dynamics at new timescales. Nearly inactive, lifeless-appearing microbes are transforming our understanding of life.PMID:38123400 | DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2023.11.014
Source: Trends in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Source Type: research