ArticleNature communications2019
Extreme slow growth as alternative strategy to survive deep starvation in bacteria.
Article in Nature communications, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
103 citing papers in PubMed, 255 citations in OpenAlex.
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- RelA-mediated (p)ppGpp accumulation links glucose starvation to peptidoglycan synthesis arrest and spherical morphogenesis via PBP2x and FtsX inJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Isolation of Marine-Derived Microorganisms for PET Biodegradation.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Lactobacillus acidophilus abolishes oxalate-mediated renal epithelial barrier disruption and calcium oxalate monohydrate crystal adhesion to renal epithelial cells.Cellular & molecular biology letters · 2026Article
- In vitro and in silico study of the endosulfan degradation by Bacillus subtilis sp. strain UAMC.Biodegradation · 2026Article
- Integrated multiomics reveals starvation-driven keratin degradation and persistence iniScience · 2026Article
- Understanding time-growth rate relationship for slow-growing microbial cells in retentostat culturing systems.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Bacterial iron acquisition byProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Evolutionary bioenergetics of sporulation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
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- Urban effluents override drying legacy in stream biofilm bacterial communities.ISME communications · 2026Article
- The adaptation chip: repurposing the principles of the ichip for guiding in situ experimental evolution.ISME communications · 2026Article
- Long-term culturing ofApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Nanotherapies based on bacterial metabolism: Mechanisms, design and application.Materials today. Bio · 2025Review
- Bacteriophage T4 propagation in E.coli exposed to severe substrate limitation.Virology journal · 2025Article
- Ribosomal L12 stalks recruit elongation factors to speed protein synthesis in Escherichia coli.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Engineering an Overflow-Responsive Regulation System for Balancing Cellular Redox and Optimizing Microbial Production.Biotechnology and bioengineering · 2025Article
- Spatial mapping of the conformational and mechanical properties of bacterial surface biopolymers.Biointerphases · 2025Article
43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Bacteria can become dormant or form spores when they are starved for nutrients. Here, we find that non-sporulating Bacillus subtilis cells can survive deep starvation conditions for many months. During this period, cells adopt an almost coccoid shape and become tolerant to antibiotics. Unexpectedly, these cells appear to be metabolically active and show a transcriptome profile very different from that of stationary phase cells. We show that these starved cells are not dormant but are growing and dividing, albeit with a doubling time close to 4 days. Very low nutrient levels, comparable to 10,000-fold diluted lysogeny broth (LB), are sufficient to sustain this growth. This extreme slow growth, which we propose to call 'oligotrophic growth state', provides an alternative strategy for B. subtilis to endure nutrient depletion and environmental stresses. Further work is warranted to test whether this state can be found in other bacterial species to survive deep starvation conditions.
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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.