Electrochemical potential enables dormant spores to integrate environmental signals
3 institutional releases
Published in Science · View the paper (DOI)
Researchers discovered a cellular decision-making mechanism in dormant bacterial spores that operates even in physiologically inactive cells. The spores can sense harsh environmental conditions and release dormancy when conditions become favorable, triggered by an electrochemical-state switching mechanism similar to neurons.
Coverage from 3 institutions
- How dormant bacterial spores process environmental cues American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) · Oct 6, 2022 · first to report
- The thinking undead: How dormant bacteria calculate their return to life University of California - San Diego · Oct 6, 2022
- The secret life of spores Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona · Oct 28, 2022