Escherichia coli Bacteria are arguably the best-studied organisms on Earth, but scientists have discovered new behaviors that are rarely seen in bacteria. Normally unicellular organisms show signs of a previously unknown multicellular phase.
Escherichia coli It resides in the intestines and is helpful most of the time, but when it gets outside it can cause many different types of infections, including urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and food poisoning. Considering the danger Escherichia coli For centuries it has been studied in detail, how to treat or prevent infections, and genetic engineering.
“It’s probably the best-studied and best-understood organism on the planet,” said Kyle Allison, corresponding author of the new study. “So among microbiologists, especially in the last 20 years or so, there is a tendency to look at other microbes.
The most interesting new discoveries are Escherichia coli They are not necessarily single-celled organisms. In tests on a microfluidic device using live-cell imaging, the team found that individual bacteria clustered into four groups to form rosettes, which are not typically found in single-celled organisms. It is a critical step during cell division in multicellular organisms.
“Rosettes are of considerable importance in higher organisms such as mammals, as they initiate developmental processes such as embryogenesis,” Allison said.
Emory University
of Escherichia coli The rosettes were seen to grow in chains, maintaining a 4-cell arrangement at each ‘link’ for as long as 10 generations.Parallel strands were found to function to form biofilms across surfaces and protect communities. Escherichia coli Before.
“What we’re seeing here is that bacteria may not be what we thought in the past,” Allison said. I suspect it’s much more common than I knew.”
Emphasizing the fact that even well-studied species always have things to learn, the researchers say the findings could be applied to synthetic biology, the treatment of bacterial infections, and programmable biofilms for a variety of purposes. It may be useful for future research such as the creation of .
A study was published in a journal eye science.
Source: Georgia Tech
