Physics News

We tend to think of bacteria as engaging in chemical warfare only when they attack us, wreaking havoc on our cells. But the microbiome is a vicious place, with many species hurling toxins at each other, attempting to gain a competitive advantage. A bacterium called Bacillus subtilis goes beyond the pale; it contains a set of genes for a "cannibalism system" that it uses to off its close relatives when facing starvation, enabling it to get enough nutrients to form a spore and ride out the lean times. A study that will appear in PNAS describes how a clever experimental approach let them purify one of the cannibalism factors, which turns out to be a potent antibiotic. Many bacteria form spores when faced with starvation; the spores have tough shells, and the bacteria inside remain inert, needing neither nutrients nor water. Once conditions improve, the spore opens, allowing the bacteria to resume their normal activities. Some of these spores, which have a specialized base and a stalk that extends from it to en

"These are the molecules that control biology," said Pieter C. Dorrestein, PhD, associate professor at UC San Diego's Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and corresponding author of a paper published this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"These are the first fully characterized molecules that enable B. subtilis to 'digest' or differentiate genetically identical cells," said Dorrestein.