title: Variations and heredity in bacterial colonies.
abstract: Spontaneous variation in appearance was studied in bacterial colonies ofSerratia marcescensF morphotype1: (i) A defined array of non-heritable phenotype variations does appear repeatedly; (ii) The presence of colonies of different bacterial species will narrow the variability toward the typical F appearance, as if such an added environmental factor curtailed the capacity of colony morphospace; (iii) Similarly the morphospace becomes reduced by random mutations leading to new, heritable morphotypes-at the same time opening a new array of variations typical for the mutant but not accessible directly from the original F morphospace. Results are discussed in context with biphasic model of early morphogenesis applicable to all multicellular bodies.
authors.affiliation: Czech University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences , Prague, Czechia.
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Čepl
authors.affiliation: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Sciences , Prague, Czechia.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blahůšková
authors.affiliation: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Sciences , Prague, Czechia.
authors.forename: Zdeněk
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Neubauer
authors.affiliation: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Sciences , Prague, Czechia.
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Markoš
keywords: Serratia; morphogenesis; mutation; plasticity; self-manifestation