ArticleCell2014
The bacterial cytoplasm has glass-like properties and is fluidized by metabolic activity.
Article in Cell, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 360 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
360 citing papers in PubMed.
- Spatially Constrained Monte Carlo Permutation Test Reveals Diffusion Changes Near Stress Granules.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Unlocking the bacterial condensome: from "dark matter" to design.Molecular biology of the cell · 2026Article
- Intrinsic Disorder as a New Frontier in Antimicrobial Resistance and Bacterial Fitness.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Review
- Bacterial growth under confinement requires transcriptional adaptation to resist turgor pressure build-up.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Glycogen-dependent demixing of frog egg cytoplasm at increased crowding.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- Bacterial ribonucleoprotein bodies maintain an acidic pH environment as a mechanism of enzyme regulation.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Fast assembly and in vivo coalescence of ParBF biocondensates involved in bacterial DNA partition.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Bacterial Sentience Is Determined by the Stochastic, Chaotic, and Deterministic Behavior of Cytoplasmic Particles.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Review
- Tunable yielding and emergent rheology in amorphous solids with active particle doping.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Single-molecule tracking of RNA-DNA hybrid removal enzymes important for lagging-strand replication.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- Article
- Dry versus wet dormancy: suspended lives ofmSystems · 2026Review
- Heterogeneity and multi-scale dynamics in the molecular bearing of the bacterial flagellum.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The Polymers of Life: Exploring Cellular Function Through Polymer Concepts.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Cavitation behaviors of genetically engineered bacterial protein nanoparticles induced by pulsed ultrasound.Ultrasonics sonochemistry · 2026Article
- Nascent protein retention at polysomes reduces kinetic barriers to self-assembly.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Review
- Redox-dependent lipophilicity of phenazine metabolites is modulated by intramolecular hydrogen bonds and controls their biological distribution.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Omega stabilizes RNA polymerase condensates and contributes to cellular fitness during acid stress.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The selfish ribosome.PLoS biology · 2026Article
300 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The physical nature of the bacterial cytoplasm is poorly understood even though it determines cytoplasmic dynamics and hence cellular physiology and behavior. Through single-particle tracking of protein filaments, plasmids, storage granules, and foreign particles of different sizes, we find that the bacterial cytoplasm displays properties that are characteristic of glass-forming liquids and changes from liquid-like to solid-like in a component size-dependent fashion. As a result, the motion of cytoplasmic components becomes disproportionally constrained with increasing size. Remarkably, cellular metabolism fluidizes the cytoplasm, allowing larger components to escape their local environment and explore larger regions of the cytoplasm. Consequently, cytoplasmic fluidity and dynamics dramatically change as cells shift between metabolically active and dormant states in response to fluctuating environments. Our findings provide insight into bacterial dormancy and have broad implications to our understanding of bacterial physiology, as the glassy behavior of the cytoplasm impacts all intracellular processes involving large components.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.