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The Microbial Olympics

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 10, pages 583–588 (2012)Cite this article

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An Erratum to this article was published on 16 July 2012

This article has been updated

Abstract

Every four years, the Olympic Games plays host to competitors who have built on their natural talent by training for many years to become the best in their chosen discipline. Similar spirit and endeavour can be found throughout the microbial world, in which every day is a competition to survive and thrive. Microorganisms are trained through evolution to become the fittest and the best adapted to a particular environmental niche or lifestyle, and to innovate when the 'rules of the game' are changed by alterations to their natural habitats. In this Essay, we honour the best competitors in the microbial world by inviting them to take part in the inaugural Microbial Olympics.

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Figure 1: The 100 μm freestyle swimming.
Figure 2: The pathogen relay.

Change history

  • 16 July 2012

    In the original article, the order and citations for references 1 and 2 was incorrect. In the section Sprint, the reference citation should have been as follows: “A chant erupts from the eukaryotic crowd: “Kill the winner! Kill the winner!” (REF. 2.)”. In the reference list, references 1 and 2 were listed in the wrong order; this has now been corrected as listed below. We apologize to the authors and to readers for this error and for any confusion caused.

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Acknowledgements

S. Kamoun and S. Hogenhout are supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Merry Youle is at Rainbow Rock, Ocean View, Hawaii 96737, USA.,

    Merry Youle

  2. Forest Rohwer is at the Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182, USA.,

    Forest Rohwer

  3. Apollo Stacy and Marvin Whiteley are at the Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.,

    Apollo Stacy & Marvin Whiteley

  4. Physics Department, Bradley C. Steel, Nicolas J. Delalez, Ashley L. Nord and Richard M. Berry are at the Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK.,

    Bradley C. Steel, Nicolas J. Delalez, Ashley L. Nord & Richard M. Berry

  5. Judith P. Armitage is at the Biochemistry Department, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK.,

    Judith P. Armitage

  6. Sophien Kamoun is at The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.,

    Sophien Kamoun

  7. Saskia Hogenhout is at The John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.,

    Saskia Hogenhout

  8. Stephen P. Diggle, James Gurney and Eric J. G. Pollitt are at the School of Molecular Medical Sciences, Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University Park, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.,

    Stephen P. Diggle, James Gurney & Eric J. G. Pollitt

  9. Antje Boetius is at the HGF–MPG Research Group on Deep Sea Ecology and Technology, Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research, D-27515 Bremerhaven, Germany.,

    Antje Boetius

  10. S. Craig Cary is at the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand.,

    S. Craig Cary

Authors
  1. Merry Youle
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  2. Forest Rohwer
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  9. Judith P. Armitage
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  10. Sophien Kamoun
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  11. Saskia Hogenhout
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Merry Youle, Marvin Whiteley, Judith P. Armitage, Sophien Kamoun, Stephen P. Diggle, Antje Boetius or S. Craig Cary.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary information S1 (movie)

A movie of the 100 μm freestyle swimming. (AVI 25130 kb)

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Youle, M., Rohwer, F., Stacy, A. et al. The Microbial Olympics. Nat Rev Microbiol 10, 583–588 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2837

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