IU research sizes up bacteria

A recent study on the relationship between function and forms of bacteria has been published by IU scientists. \n"We've found the bacteria can take up nutrients with their stalks," said microbiologist Yves Brun, in a statement. "This is the first example that we know of in which a major feature of a bacterium's shape can be tied to a specific function."\nBurn, who led the study, was unavailable for comment by press time as he currently is taking sabbatical in Canada. \nThe report was published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" as specifically the aquatic bacteria, Caulobacter crescentus, was examined by the IU group. \nAccording to a press release, Brun said previously little has been known about the utility that the shapes of bacteria offers. After the research he was able to say the stalk of the bacteria appears to be similar to an antenna to increase the intake of organic substance from the surrounding environment. \n"The stalk essentially increases the cell's reach into the environment but without the cost of increasing the cell's volume and surface are, which would be expensive from an energetic standpoint," Brun said in the statement. \nThe scientists used mathematical models to tell that nutrients were being taken in through the antenna and determined that this is a more energy efficient way of gaining substance. \nThe implications of the research may also bear real-world significance, Brun said. \n"If stalks improve the efficiency of the uptake of other nutrients, the structures and appropriate transport proteins could be added to bacteria commonly used in drug production and toxic spill clean-ups," he said. "Bacteria are often used as workhorses in the mass-conversion of one molecule to another."\nIn addition, he said there are also biological implications of the findings. \n"Bacteria with stalks and other prostheses are ubiquitous in all the earth's aquatic environments," he said in the statement. "Phosphorus is a limiting nutrient in determining the productivity of lakes and oceans. The stalked bacteria are central players in scavenging phosphorus in oceans and lakes, and reintroducing it into the food chain." \nAccording to the press release IU biologist Jennifer Wagner, physicist Sima Setayeshgar and chemists James Reilly and Laura Sharon also contributed to the report. It was supported with grants from the National Institutes of Health and an NIH fellowship.