Bacterial senescence

Bacterial senescence or bacterial aging refers to the gradual decrease in cellular function in individual bacteria as they increase in age. Indicators of senescence include a decelerated division rate and an increase likelihood of death.[1]

The fundamental cause of aging in bacteria is thought to be the accumulation of deleterious components (aging factors). Asymmetrically dividing bacteria, such as Caulobacter crescentus, show signs of replicative aging.[2] The results for symmetrically dividing bacteria are more nuanced. For example, Escherichia coli, under certain experimental conditions, may exhibit signs of replicative aging caused by subtle asymmetries in its division.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ Nyström, Thomas (2003-03-25). "Conditional senescence in bacteria: death of the immortals: Bacterial senescence". Molecular Microbiology. 48 (1): 17–23. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2958.2003.03385.x. PMID 12657042. S2CID 35548948.
  2. ^ Ackermann, M.; Stearns, S. C.; Jenal, U. (2003). "Senescence in a bacterium with asymmetric division". Science. 300 (5627): 1920. doi:10.1126/science.1083532. PMID 12817142. S2CID 34770745.
  3. ^ Stewart, E. J.; Madden, R.; Paul, G.; Taddei, F. (2005). "Aging and Death in an Organism That Reproduces by Morphologically Symmetric Division". PLOS Biology. 3 (2): e45. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030045. PMC 546039. PMID 15685293.
  4. ^ Lindner, A. B.; Madden, R.; Demarez, A.; Stewart, E. J.; Taddei, F. (2008). "Asymmetric segregation of protein aggregates is associated with cellular aging and rejuvenation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (8): 3076–3081. Bibcode:2008PNAS..105.3076L. doi:10.1073/pnas.0708931105. PMC 2268587. PMID 18287048.
  5. ^ Wang, Ping; Lydia Robert; James Pelletier; Wei Lien Dang; Francois Taddei; Andrew Wright; Suckjoon Jun (2010). "Robust Growth of E. coli". Current Biology. 20 (12): 1099–103. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.04.045. PMC 2902570. PMID 20537537.