Bacteria have a secret engineering trick to keep themselves in shape
Blow up a long balloon and two things happen: it gets longer and it gets wider. Now imagine a living cell that inflates itself under enormous pressure and yet only grows longer, never adding width. That is exactly what rod-shaped bacteria do, every time they divide, with a precision that has baffled...
Image: Phys.org
Blow up a long balloon and two things happen: it gets longer and it gets wider. Now imagine a living cell that inflates itself under enormous pressure and yet only grows longer, never adding width. That is exactly what rod-shaped bacteria do, every time they divide, with a precision that has baffled scientists for decades.
Originally published at Phys.org
