Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Systems biology

How bacteria choose a lifestyle

Nature volume 503, pages 476–477 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

In a bacterial population, some cells stay single and motile, whereas others settle down and form chains. A study now investigates the mechanisms that determine these outcomes. See Article p.481

Cells can switch identity several times during development. How do they decide to switch? There is much debate about the extent to which identity switching is a cell-autonomous decision as opposed to being driven by environmental signals. In this issue, Norman et al.1 (page 481) take an unusual approach to address this issue. They watch the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis growing in an unchanging environment in which switching cannot be driven by extracellular signals. They focus on a simple switch — the transition from a single-cell swimming (motile) state to a sessile state that allows the bacteria to form a chain. Their findings provide invaluable insight into how an individual cell makes up its mind.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: To be sessile or to swim.

References

  1. Norman, T. M., Lord, N. D., Paulsson, J. & Losick, R. Nature 503, 481–486 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wang, P. et al. Curr. Biol. 20, 1099–1103 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Chai, Y., Norman, T., Kolter, R. & Losick, R. Genes Dev. 24, 754–765 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Süel, G. M., Kulkarni, R. P., Dworkin, J., Garcia-Ojalvo, J. & Elowitz, M. B. Science 315, 1716–1719 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Locke, J. C. W., Young, J. W., Fontes, M., Hernández Jiménez, M. J. & Elowitz, M. B. Science 334, 366–369 (2011).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mackey, S. R., Golden, S. S. & Ditty, J. L. Adv. Genet. 74, 13–53 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Tolkamp, B. J., Haskell, M. J., Langford, F. M., Roberts, D. J. & Morgan, C. A. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 124, 1–10 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. James C. W. Locke is in the Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1LR, UK.,

    James C. W. Locke

Authors
  1. James C. W. Locke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Locke, J. How bacteria choose a lifestyle. Nature 503, 476–477 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12837

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12837

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing