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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Enhancement of the Initial Growth Rate of Agricultural Plants by Using Static Magnetic Fields
Published on: July 8, 2016
Effects of a static magnetic field on cell growth and gene expression in Escherichia coli
Lucia Potenza1, Luca Ubaldi, Roberta De Sanctis
1Giorgio Fornaini Institute of Biological Chemistry, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, 61029 Urbino, PU, Italy. l.potenza@uniurb.it
Abstract:
Escherichia coli cultures exposed to a 300mT static magnetic field (SMF) were studied in order to analyse possible induced changes in cellular growth and gene expression. Biomass was evaluated by visible-light spectrometry and gene expression analyses were carried out by use of RNA arbitrarily primed PCR. The bacterial strain XL-1Blue, cultivated in traditional and modified Luria-Bertani medium, was exposed to SMF generated by permanent neodymium magnetic disks. The results show alterations induced by SMF in terms of increased cell proliferation and changes in gene expression compared with control groups. Three cDNAs were found to be expressed only in the exposed cells, whereas one cDNA was more expressed in the controls. One clone, expressed only in the exposed cells, corresponds to a putative transposase. This is of particular interest in that it suggests that exposure to a magnetic field may stimulate transposition activity.
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