Revival and identification of bacterial spores in 25- to 40-million-year-old Dominican amber

Cano, Raúl J.; Borucki, Monica K.

doi:10.1126/science.7538699

Cited by 530 publications

(279 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Finally, we vary both infectiousness α and virulence υ simultaneously as functions of ξ. Throughout, we assume ξ ∈ [ξ min , ξ max ], recognizing that the expected longevity of FLP can vary from minutes to decades (Leblanc and Lefebvre, 1984;Cano and Borucki, 1995).…”

Section: Pathogen Strain Competitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free-living pathogens: Life-history constraints and strain competition

Caraco

Wang

2008

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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Many pathogen life histories include a free-living stage, often with anatomical and physiological adaptations promoting persistence outside of host tissues. More durable particles presumably require that the pathogen metabolize more resources per particle. Therefore, we hypothesize functional dependencies, pleiotropic constraints, between the rate at which free-living particles decay outside of host tissues and other pathogen traits, including virulence, the probability of infecting a host upon contact, and pathogen reproduction within host tissues. Assuming that pathogen strains compete for hosts preemptively, we find patterns in trait dependencies predicting whether or not strain competition favors a highly persistent free-living stage.

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Section: Pathogen Strain Competitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free-living pathogens: Life-history constraints and strain competition

Caraco

Wang

2008

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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“…The spores are metabolically dormant and very resistant to a variety of environmental stress factors including heat, radiation, desiccation, and freeze-thaw cycles (1). As a consequence of their dormancy and resistance, spores can survive for very long periods, certainly hundreds of years, and there are reports suggesting that spores may even survive for millions of years (2)(3)(4).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bacillus subtilis spore coat provides “eat resistance” during phagocytic predation by the protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila

Klobutcher

Ragkousi

Setlow

2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

121

124

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Bacillus spores are highly resistant to many environmental stresses, owing in part to the presence of multiple ''extracellular'' layers. Although the role of some of these extracellular layers in resistance to particular stresses is known, the function of one of the outermost layers, the spore coat, is not completely understood. This study sought to determine whether the spore coat plays a role in resistance to predation by the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena, which uses phagocytosis to ingest and degrade other microorganisms. Wild-type dormant spores of Bacillus subtilis were efficiently ingested by the protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila but were neither digested nor killed. However, spores with various coat defects were killed and digested, leaving only an outer shell termed a rind, and supporting the growth of Tetrahymena. A similar rind was generated when coat-defective spores were treated with lysozyme alone. The sensitivity of spores with different coat defects to predation by T. thermophila paralleled the spores' sensitivities to lysozyme. Spore killing by T. thermophila was by means of lytic enzymes within the protozoal phagosome, not by initial spore germination followed by killing. These findings suggest that a major function of the coat of spores of Bacillus species is to protect spores against predation. We also found that indigestible rinds were generated even from spores in which cross-linking of coat proteins was greatly reduced, implying the existence of a coat structure that is highly resistant to degradative enzymes.Bacillus spore ͉ phagocytosis ͉ spore resistance

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“…The durability or longevity of non-indigenous microorganisms in the Antarctic environment is also of concern. Numerous researchers have reported on the preservation of DNA in various environments, including amber (Cano and Borucki 1995), tundra soil (Stokstad 2003), permafrost (Willerslev et al 2003) as well as in subfossil bones of Adelie penguins in Antarctica (Lambert et al 2002).…”

Section: Results)mentioning

confidence: 99%