Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34135315›Full record

ArticleNature communications2021

A distinct growth physiology enhances bacterial growth under rapid nutrient fluctuations.

Jen Nguyen, Vicente Fernandez, Sammy Pontrelli, Uwe Sauer, Martin Ackermann, Roman Stocker

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
49citing papers in PubMed
15.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

49 citing papers in PubMed, 105 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  7. Bacterial iron acquisition byProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Jen NguyenInstitute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8286-0738
Vicente FernandezInstitute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Sammy PontrelliInstitute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Uwe SauerInstitute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5923-0770
Martin AckermannInstitute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Roman StockerInstitute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland. romanstocker@ethz.ch.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3199-0508
ETH Zurich · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

It has long been known that bacteria coordinate their physiology with their nutrient environment, yet our current understanding offers little intuition for how bacteria respond to the second-to-minute scale fluctuations in nutrient concentration characteristic of many microbial habitats. To investigate the effects of rapid nutrient fluctuations on bacterial growth, we couple custom microfluidics with single-cell microscopy to quantify the growth rate of E. coli experiencing 30 s to 60 min nutrient fluctuations. Compared to steady environments of equal average concentration, fluctuating environments reduce growth rate by up to 50%. However, measured reductions in growth rate are only 38% of the growth loss predicted from single nutrient shifts. This enhancement derives from the distinct growth response of cells grown in environments that fluctuate rather than shift once. We report an unexpected physiology adapted for growth in nutrient fluctuations and implicate nutrient timescale as a critical environmental parameter beyond nutrient identity and concentration.

Indexed as

Adaptation, PhysiologicalEscherichia coliLab-On-A-Chip DevicesMicroscopy, Phase-ContrastModels, BiologicalNutrientsTime FactorsTime-Lapse ImagingNutrients

Identifiers

PMID34135315
PMCPMC8209047
OpenAlexW3166240614

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.