Cannibal bacteria

2003/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Mikrobiologia

Bacteria suffer frequent chemical wars between them: they launch antibiotics and kill bacteria of the other species. But no one knew they also killed and ate the same species. According to experts, bacteria become cannibals to prevent the formation of spores.

In fact, spore production is an expensive process for bacteria, which require a lot of energy and about eight hours, and only sporulate when there is a great shortage of food. By not having to eat or grow in spores, they can sleep as long as they want, latent, and start reproducing when the environment conditions improve.

But because of the cost of sporulation, researchers at Harvard University have found that the microorganism Bacillus subtilis emits antibiotics around it in cases of food shortages and the presence of bacteria. His brothers are sacrificed and used to eat. This way they can delay the sporulation phase. In addition, they have detected the creation of special protein pumps for the launch of the antibiotic on the cell wall.