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Sporulation Initiation Pathway in Bacilli and Clostridia Bacteria Originated 2.7 Billion Years Ago

posted by chromas on Wednesday September 26 2018, @02:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the if-it-ain't-broke dept.

takyon writes:

Bacteria's Password for Sporulation Hasn't Changed in 2.7 Billion Years

A Carnegie Mellon University research team has found that despite 2.7 billion years of evolution, bacteria are still using the same "password" to initiate the process for making spores. Their findings were published in the September issue of PLOS Genetics [open, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007470] [DX].

The Carnegie Mellon researchers, led by the Department of Biological Sciences' Dannie Durand, used computational and experimental techniques to study how the signaling network that causes Bacilli and Clostridia to form spores has evolved since the two bacteria diverged from a common ancestor 2.7 billion years ago.

Bacteria make spores when times are tough. A protective shell forms around dormant cells to let them withstand harsh conditions like heat, acidity and radiation. Understanding sporulation has implications for many fields, including health care. For example, the spores of C. difficile can survive hand sanitizer, making that bacterium the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections.

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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday September 26 2018, @05:09PM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday September 26 2018, @05:09PM (#740318)

    It took 2.7 Billion years to find the key. Totally unsafe.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 26 2018, @05:50PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 26 2018, @05:50PM (#740340)

    From: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007470#references [plos.org]

    The earliest reference in this paper is:
    26. Hoch JA. Genetic analysis of pleiotropic negative sporulation mutants in Bacillus subtilis. J Bacteriol. 1971 Mar;105(3):896–901. pmid:4994039

    So, less than 50 years to break this particular code. And now those tradition-bound bacteria are going to get it.