Asymmetric bacterium

Asymmetric bacteria are bacteria that undergo "non-symmetrical" life cycles. This especially includes those that differentiate temporally, such as prosthecate bacteria.[1]


History

Cell division asymmetries are evolutionarily used to perform complex developmental processes. Recently, the idea of bacteria being symmetric simple cells have vanished with increased technology and observation techniques. Even with the advancements, asymmetric bacterium are hard to detect. Asymmetrical growth also helps in establishing age of bacteria. Following the "old pole" of the cell wall material helps create a bacterial lineage. The old pole is the inert material at the ends of a rod-shaped bacterial cell.

Types of Asymmetry

In bacteria there are three different types of asymmetry, including conditional asymmetry, reproductive asymmetry and morphological asymmetry. Conditional asymmetry can be explained by using the formation of an endospore in certain bacteria. The formation is due to stressful environmental conditions such as increased heat, pH and depletion of nutrients. This type of asymmetry is usually seen in bacilli and clostridia. Reproductive asymmetry is classically linked to bacterial budding, where a mother cell has cell wall material concentrated to one area, and a daughter cell begins to bud. Reproductive asymmetry has cell growth occurring in three phases : Stalk elongation, Daughter cell elongation and septum formation. Morphological asymmetry is classified by polar elongation. In this type of asymmetrical growth, the daughter cell receive most of the new cell wall material.


Examples

Caulobacter crescentus

References

  1. ↑ Madigan, Michael T.; Martinko, John M. (2006). Brock Biology of Microorganisms (11th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-196893-9.

[1]


  1. ↑ Kysela, D., Brown, P., Huang, K. and Brun, Y. (2018). Biological Consequences and Advantages of Asymmetric Bacterial Growth. NCIB
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