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Updated: Sep 7, 2025

Monitoring Intraspecies Competition in a Bacterial Cell Population by Cocultivation of Fluorescently Labelled Strains
Published on: January 18, 2014
Bacteria grow swiftly and live thriftily
Roberto Kolter1, Nathalie Balaban2, Thomas Julou3
1Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
Bacteria have evolved numerous strategies to use resources efficiently. However, bacterial economies depend on both the physiological context of the organisms as well as their growth state - whether they are growing, non-growing or reinitiating growth. In this essay, we discuss some of the features that make bacteria efficient under these different conditions and during the transitions between them. We also highlight the many outstanding questions regarding the physiology of non-growing bacterial cells. Lastly, we examine how efficiency is apparent in both the mode and tempo of bacterial evolution.
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