ArticleJournal of bacteriology1994
Electric fields induce curved growth of Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis cells: implications for mechanisms of galvanotropism and bacterial growth.
Article in Journal of bacteriology, 1994. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
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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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of curvature on growing films of microorganisms.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Hunting the Cell CycleLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Electrotaxis behavior of droplets composed of aqueous Belousov-Zhabotinsky solutions suspended in oil phase.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Effect of Thioflavin T on the Elongation Rate of Bacteria.Bioelectricity · 2022Article
- Electrical Control ofBioelectricity · 2020Article
- Endogenous Bioelectric Signaling Networks: Exploiting Voltage Gradients for Control of Growth and Form.Annual review of biomedical engineering · 2017Review
- Influence of Electric Fields and Conductivity on Pollen Tube Growth assessed via Electrical Lab-on-Chip.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Dissecting the Molecular Mechanisms of Electrotactic Effects.Advances in wound care · 2014Review
- Electrical stimulation of the motor cortex enhances progenitor cell migration in the adult rat brain.Experimental brain research · 2013Article
- Theoretical and experimental models of hormetic fusion tubulogenesis.Dose-response : a publication of International Hormesis Society · 2013Article
- When microbial conversations get physical.Trends in microbiology · 2011Article
- Hormetic electric field theory of pattern formation.Dose-response : a publication of International Hormesis Society · 2010Article
- Electrical control of cell polarization in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.Current biology : CB · 2010Article
- Neural circuits mediate electrosensory behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2007Article
- Genetic analysis of the role of G protein-coupled receptor signaling in electrotaxis.The Journal of cell biology · 2002Article
- New model of charged molecule redistribution induced in spherical vesicles by direct current electric field.Biophysical journal · 1997Article
- Elements of a unifying theory of biology.Acta biotheoretica · 1996Review
- Phenotypes of Bacillus subtilis mutants lacking multiple class A high-molecular-weight penicillin-binding proteins.Journal of bacteriology · 1996Article
- The effect of electrical currents and tobramycin on Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.Journal of industrial microbiology · 1995Article
- Mechanism of electrical enhancement of efficacy of antibiotics in killing biofilm bacteria.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 1994Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Directional growth in response to electric fields (galvanotropism) is known for eukaryotic cells as diverse as fibroblasts, neurons, algae, and fungal hyphae. The mechanism is not understood, but all proposals invoke actin either directly or indirectly. We applied electric fields to bacteria (which are inherently free of actin) to determine whether actin was essential for galvanotropism. Field-treated (but not control) Enterobacter cloacae and Escherichia coli cells curved rapidly toward the anode. The response was both field strength and pH dependent. The direction of curvature was reversed upon reversal of field polarity. The directional growth was not due to passive bending of the cells or to field-induced gradients of tropic substances in the medium. Field-treated Bacillus subtilis cells also curved, but the threshold was much higher than for E. cloacae or E. coli. Since the curved morphology must reflect spatial differences in the rates of cell wall synthesis and degradation, we looked for regions of active wall growth. Experiments in which the cells were decorated with latex beads revealed that the anode-facing ends of cells grew faster than the cathode-facing ends of the same cells. Inhibitors of cell wall synthesis caused spheroplasts to form on the convex regions of field-treated cells, suggesting that the initial curvature resulted from enhanced growth of cathode-facing regions. Our results indicate that an electric field modulates wall growth spatially and that the mechanism may involve differential stimulation of wall growth in both anode- and cathode-facing regions. Electric fields may therefore serve as valuable tools for studies of bacterial wall growth. Use of specific E. coli mutants may allow dissection of the galvanotropic mechanism at the molecular level.
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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.