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Updated: Nov 11, 2025
07:31
Live Cell Imaging of Bacillus subtilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae using Automated Time-lapse Microscopy
Published on: July 28, 2011
42.9K
Nongenetic individuality, changeability, and inheritance in bacterial behavior
Maroš Pleška1, David Jordan1, Zak Frentz2,3
1Laboratory of Living Matter, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065; mpleska@rockefeller.edu dj333@cam.ac.uk livingmatter@rockefeller.edu.
Summary
Microbial populations show significant diversity due to individual differences and lifetime changes. This study quantifies these factors in Escherichia coli, finding individuality is the primary driver of diversity, with evidence of nongenetic inheritance.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Systems Biology
- Quantitative Biology
Background:
- Isogenic populations exhibit phenotypic diversity despite uniform environments.
- This diversity arises from nongenetic individuality and changeability within an individual's lifetime.
- Quantifying both sources of microbial diversity remains challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To continuously measure and quantify swimming behavior in Escherichia coli over two generations.
- To develop a model-independent framework for analyzing microbial behavioral diversity.
- To statistically decompose diversity into individuality and changeability components.
Main Methods:
- Continuous tracking of hundreds of Escherichia coli bacteria over two generations.
- Application of a model-independent method for behavioral quantification.
- Statistical decomposition of behavioral trait diversity.
Main Results:
- The behavioral space of E. coli is low-dimensional, characterized by two main independent traits.
- Nongenetic individuality is the predominant source of behavioral diversity.
- Changeability contributes significantly but to a lesser extent than individuality.
- Positive correlations across generations suggest nongenetic inheritance of traits.
Conclusions:
- A novel experimental and theoretical framework enables comprehensive analysis of microbial behavioral diversity.
- Nongenetic individuality plays a crucial role in microbial phenotypic variation.
- Nongenetic inheritance contributes to the transmission of behavioral traits across generations.
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