New research has uncovered the existence of internal clocks in soil bacteria, specifically the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The discovery of these bacterial circadian clocks has significant implications in various fields, including precision timing of antibiotic use and bioengineering smarter gut and soil microbiomes.
The discovery was made by an international collaboration from Ludwig Maximillian University Munich, The John Innes Center, The Technical University of Denmark, and Leiden University. They studied gene expression in Bacillus subtilis as evidence of clock activity. The researchers found that the circadian clock in Bacillus subtilis regulates multiple genes and behaviors, highlighting the complexity and sophistication of these microbial clocks.
This study builds on previous work by the same collaborative team, which demonstrated the existence of a circadian clock in a lab-derived strain of Bacillus subtilis. To monitor the bacterial clock as conditions varied, the researchers used bioluminescence produced by an enzyme called luciferase.
The study also revealed that these circadian clocks likely exist in Bacillus subtilis strains collected from natural environments. Importantly, the clocks can maintain their rhythms even under constant dark and constant light conditions, suggesting the ability of bacteria to synchronize their physiology and metabolism with changing light and temperature conditions.
The findings have significant implications for biotechnology, human health, and plant science. The beneficial soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis, commonly utilized by farmers, could potentially play a vital role in nutrient exchange, plant development, and defense against pathogenic microbes. Understanding the circadian clocks in these bacteria could improve industrial applications of microbiology and shed light on the formation of microbiomes.
The research team is now focusing on developing Bacillus subtilis as a model organism for studying bacterial circadian clocks. This includes identifying the specific genes involved in the clock mechanism and understanding the impact of multicellular organization on its functionality.
Circadian clocks offer a selective advantage to organisms by allowing them to adapt their physiology and metabolism to environmental changes. These clocks are found in various organisms, from bacteria to mammals and plants. The complexity of the circadian clock in Bacillus subtilis, despite its small genome size, suggests the universal nature of circadian biology.
Further research in this field could have implications for understanding the effects of jet lag and the molecular biology of organisms across different species. The study opens up exciting possibilities for the field of circadian biology and its potential applications in various sectors.
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