Bacteria may not have to deal with grey hair and wrinkles, but they do appear to grow old. By following microbes with a camera, researchers have revealed aspects of their life cycle. Their innovation could help people investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in ageing.
Researchers studying ageing in cells focus on two key characteristics: asymmetric cell division and the stage of the life cycle leading up to reproduction (childhood, if you like). “It’s been proposed that these two features are an integral part of ageing,” says microbiologist Eric Stewart of INSERM, the French institute for health and medical research in Paris.
The bacterium Escherichia coli, however, lacks both. The single-celled organism splits into two apparently identical daughter cells, which in turn divide, and so on. As a result, many scientists believed that it, and similar bacteria, were immortal.
