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Morphological plasticity as a bacterial survival strategy.

Justice SS, Hunstad DA, Cegelski L, Hultgren SJ

Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio 43205, USA.

Bacteria have evolved complex systems to maintain consistent cell morphologies. Nevertheless, in certain circumstances, bacteria alter this highly regulated process to transform into filamentous organisms. Accumulating evidence attributes important biological roles to filamentation in stressful environments, including, but not limited to, sites of interaction between pathogenic bacteria and their hosts. Filamentation could represent an intended response to specific environmental cues that promote survival amidst the threats of consumption and killing.

Published 16 January 2008 in Nat Rev Microbiol, 6(2): 162-8.
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