E. coli pancake

This is an amusing experimental artifact we saw in 2007-2008. The strain is standard E. coli MG1655 containing a plasmid expressing GFP, growing at 30C (division time ~ 40 minutes). The growth channels are wide enough two lines of cells fit. At some point, the cells push one another and they start to grow into the nanoslits of thickness ~ 300nm. As a result, the diameter of the E. coli cells becomes between 5um - 10um and thickness only couple of hundred nanometers -- like a pancake! Many researchers in the 20th century have seen a whole spectrum of amazing cell shapes, so nothing really new for that matter. However, what struck us here is that chromosomes can segregate in such an extreme pancake geometry. That is, the chromosomes can segregate in two-dimensional confinement! For more information, google around 'entropy as the driver of chromosome segregation' or something like that.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• E. coli
• chromosomes
• microfluidics