Morphological characterization of small cells resulting from nutrient starvation of a psychrophilic marine vibrio.
Upon starvation, Ant-300, a psychrophilic marine vibrio, was observed to decrease in size and change in shape from a rod to a coccus. After 3 weeks of starvation 50% of the starved population was able to pass through a filter with a pore size of 0.4 mum. Electron microscopy of thin sections of the small cells revealed normal cell structure except for an enlarged periplasmic space. When inoculated into a fresh medium, starved cells growth without a significant lag and regained "normal" size and shape within 48 h.
D001110:Arctic Regions; D012623:Seawater; D014733:Vibrio / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014871:Water Microbiology