title: Dimensional rearrangement of Escherichia coli B/r cells during a nutritional shift-down.
abstract: In a search for the mechanism underlying dimensional changes in bacteria, the glucose analogue methyl alpha-D-glucoside was used to effect a rapid reduction in the mass growth rate of Escherichia coli by competitively inhibiting glucose uptake, a so-called nutritional shift-down. The new steady-state cell mass and volume were reached after 1 h, during which the rate of cell division was maintained; rearrangement of the linear dimensions (cell length, diameter), however, required an additional 2 h and caused an undershoot in cell length, consistent with the view that E. coli is slow to modify its diameter. The results are compared with the overshoot in cell length that occurs following nutritional shift-up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaritsky
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Woldringh
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Helmstetter
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Grover
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003470:Culture Media; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D008757:Methylglucosides / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D008757:Methylglucosides; C027020:methylglucoside