ReviewNature microbiology2025
Exploring the concept of bacterial memory.
Review in Nature microbiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 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
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- CRISPR-Cas immune repertoires as an ecological record of bacterial interactions with mobile genetic elements in the human gut.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Exploring the functional resilience of cyanobacterial multifunctional biofilms and their use as seed coatings under elevated COWorld journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Article
- Engineering Basal Cognition: Minimal Genetic Circuits for Habituation, Sensitization, and Massed-Spaced Learning.ACS synthetic biology · 2026Article
- Gut microbiota-immune crosstalk in childhood and adolescent obesity: mechanistic insights and therapeutic potential focused on short-chain fatty acids and emerging metabolites.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Diverse drought responses and evidence for stress priming in glacier-fed stream bacteria.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Bacteria have multiple mechanisms through which they sense changes in their environment and respond appropriately. In some instances, bacteria appear to retain an imprint of past events that can influence future behaviour, resembling a form of memory. This Perspective explores this concept of bacterial memory at the genetic, epigenetic, biochemical and ecological levels. We discuss how memory can prime bacteria to respond appropriately to recurring stimuli, providing fitness benefits in fluctuating environments. At the cellular level, there is evidence for memory storage mechanisms involving mutations, DNA methylation, or the inheritance of metabolites or proteins that provide a means of accessing past experiences. Complex bacterial communities can exhibit ecological memories of past environments, stored as microbiota population changes that persist or lag after acute environmental change. We review the emerging evidence supporting these concepts of microbial memory, outline some of the key molecular mechanisms, and identify research gaps and potential future applications.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41238748What 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.