Bacterial Individualism: A Survival Strategy for Hard Times

10. No two bacteria are identical - even when they are genetically the same. A new study reveals the conditions under which bacteria become individualists and how they help their group grow when times get tough. Whether you are a human or a bacterium, your environment determines how you can develop. In particular, there are two fundamental problems. First: what resources can you draw on to survive and grow? And second: how do you respond if your environment suddenly changes?  A group of researchers from Eawag, ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne, and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen recently discovered that the number of individualists in a bacterial population goes up when its food source is restricted. Their finding goes against the prevailing wisdom that bacterial populations merely respond, in hindsight, to the environmental conditions they experience.