Talmudic Question #51
Is it possible that prototypical bacterial endospores (e.g., those of Bacillus subtilis) carry out some metabolic activities, albeit at extremely slow rates?
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since no one's answering I will take a stab at it. The answer has to be yes????
I just saw your Talmudic question on possible slow metabolic activity of bacterial endospores — very interesting question, but also very Talmudic, in that I don't think we can answer it at present, although we can talk about it ad infinitum. We need some new tools to measure the metabolism of single spores, and be sure that the metabolism is enzymatic.
Elio's response:
Peter's comment is a measured, careful response, as expected from a distinguished scientist in the field (and others of course).
Judith's is based on logic. It seems easier to assume that something takes place that that it doesn't, even if proving that the former may be elusive.
Elio, I remember some of the discussion of VERY slow growing microbes within the cracks of halite crystals or within amber inclusions. But I suspect that wasn't directly measured. I like to think of spores like tightly wound springs, ready for activation!
I believe they likely do (some of the time). I seem to recall a poster I just saw at the Prokaryotic Development meeting from Sigal Ben-Yeduda's lab where someone did microarrays on spores of different ages. They found different mRNAs present at different times. Which suggests that some mRNAs are being degraded (possibly enzymatically) and/or some mRNAs are being synthesized (definitely enzymatically). I think these experiments were examining spores only a few days old... but it suggests its possible!
Elio's comment:
Thanks for pointing us in this interesting direction. It suggests — perhaps — that spores may "mature" after being released into the world. Maybe they carry out a limited amount of metabolic activity for a short while. A twilight dream before going to sleep?