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BACTERIAL PHYSIOLOGY

Growth at best and worst of times

Nature Microbiology volume 3, pages 862–863 (2018)Cite this article

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It has been assumed that bacteria adapt to nutrient limitation by adjusting the number of ribosomes, no matter what they are being starved for. Instead, two recent studies show that Escherichia coli uses different approaches depending on whether its growth is limited by the availability of carbon, nitrogen or phosphate.

Fundamentals of bacterial growth are deliciously complex and yet important because a thorough understanding of microbial growth may someday enable the engineering of microorganisms that could provide our planet with food, fuel and fibre. A long-standing hypothesis postulates that bacterial growth rates in various media (ranging from minutes to several hours) are determined by changing the numbers of highly efficient ribosomes (factories that produce proteins) per cell, rather than by varying the efficiency of a fixed number of ribosomes. The constraint for this hypothesis is that all the nutrients must be present in excess of the cell’s ability to use them, so that the cell can adapt whether rich or lean cuisines are available1,2.

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Fig. 1: The three ways to slow bacterial growth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bacterial Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland

    Katarzyna Potrykus

  2. Intramural Research Program, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Michael Cashel

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  1. Katarzyna Potrykus
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  2. Michael Cashel
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Correspondence to Michael Cashel.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Potrykus, K., Cashel, M. Growth at best and worst of times. Nat Microbiol 3, 862–863 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-018-0207-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-018-0207-6

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