Abstract
IN synchronous cultures of bacteria, the rate of cell elongation1 or of envelope synthesis2 seems to increase abruptly at a particular age. These and other findings suggest3–5 that bacterial envelope is formed at a constant rate, possibly by enzymes organised in zones, and that some event in the cell cycle leads to a discrete increase in the amount of enzymes or number of zones concerned. (The actual event involved has been variously identified with initiation of chromosome replication4, with termination1,5 and with the attainment of a critical cell length6.) Growth zones are known to occur in the filamentous fungi7. The rate at which these zones are able to add new envelope is limited, and since mass increases exponentially8, hyphal density eventually begins to rise; when it reaches a critical value, new zones are formed. Thus density (or indeed the concentration of any product synthesised exponentially9) could control the rate of surface growth, and we suggest that such is the case in bacteria.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sargent, M. G. J. Bact. 123, 7–19 (1975).
Hoffman, B., Messer, W. & Schwartz, U. J. supramolec. Struct. 1, 29–37 (1972).
Previc, E. P. J. theor. Biol. 27, 471–497 (1970).
Donachie, W. D., Jones, M. C. & Teather, R. Symp. Soc. gen. Microbiol. 23, 9–44 (1973).
Pritchard, R. H. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B267, 303–336 (1974).
Donachie, W. D., Begg, K. J. & Vicente, M. Nature 264, 328–333 (1976).
Katz, D., Goldstein, D. & Rosenberger, R. F. J. Bact. 109, 1097–1100 (1972).
Kubitschek, H. E. Introduction to Research with Continuous Cultures 75 (Prentice-Hall, New York, 1970).
Sompayrac, L. & Maaløe, O. Nature new Biol. 241, 133–135 (1973).
Grover, N. B., Woldringh, C. L., Zaritsky, A. & Rosenberger, R. F. J. theor. Biol. 67, 181–193 (1977).
Cooper, S. & Helmstetter, C. E. J. molec. Biol. 31, 519–540 (1968).
Pritchard, R. H., Barth, P. T. & Collins, J. Symp. Soc. gen. Microbiol. 19, 263–296 (1969).
Marr, A. G., Harvey, R. J. & Trentini, W. C. J. Bact. 91, 2388–2389 (1966).
Daneo-Moore, L. & Shockman, G. D. in Cell Surface Reviews 4 (eds Poste, G. & Nicholson, G. L.) (North-Holland, Amsterdam, in the press).
Schaechter, M., Maaløe, O. & Kjeldgaard, N. O. J. gen. Microbiol. 19, 592–606 (1958).
Kubitschek, H. E. Biophys. J. 14, 119–123 (1974).
Poole, R. K. J. gen. Microbiol. 98, 177–186 (1977).
Kubitschek, H. E. Biophys. J. 9, 792–809 (1969).
Mitchell, P. J. gen. Microbiol. 9, 273–287 (1953).
Hartmann, R., Bock-Hennig, S. B. & Schwarz, U. Eur. J. Biochem. 41, 203–208 (1974).
Mitchell, P. & Moyle, J. Symp. Soc. gen. Microbiol. 6, 150–180 (1956).
Zaritsky, A., Woldringh, C. L. & Grover, N. B. Proc. 6th Congr. Electron Microsc. 2, 554 (1976).
Adler, H. J., Terry, C. E. & Hardigree, A. A. J. Bact. 95, 139–142 (1968).
Bloom, G. D. et al. Z. allg. Mikrobiol. 14, 465–477 (1974).
Zaritsky, A. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 2, 65–69 (1977).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ROSENBERGER, R., GROVER, N., ZARITSKY, A. et al. Control of microbial surface-growth by density. Nature 271, 244–245 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/271244a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/271244a0
This article is cited by
-
Effects of temperature on the size and shape of Escherichia coli cells
Archives of Microbiology (1982)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.