| Range |
perfectly spherical coccus ~17%: a rod twice as long 20%: a rod 7 times as long 23%: a rod 10 times as long ~24% % of cell surface
|
| Organism |
prokaryote |
| Reference |
Young KD. The selective value of bacterial shape. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2006 Sep70(3):660-703 DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00001-06 p.668 left column top paragraphPubMed ID16959965
|
| Primary Source |
[314] Steinberger RE, Allen AR, Hansa HG, Holden PA. Elongation correlates with nutrient deprivation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa-unsaturates biofilms. Microb Ecol. 2002 May43(4):416-23 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-001-1063-zPubMed ID12043001
|
| Method |
Primary source abstract: "A mathematical relationship suggests that, by elongating, biofilm bacteria strategically enlarge their nutrient collection surface without substantially changing the ratio of surface area to volume (SA/V)." |
| Comments |
P.668 left column top paragraph: "Steinberger et al. calculated that a perfectly spherical coccus contacts a planar solid with ∼17% of the cell's surface, and a rod twice as long makes contact with 20% of its surface (primary source). For a rod whose length is 7 times the sphere's diameter the contact surface increases to 23%, but a rod 10 times as long increases its contact area to only ∼24%, and further elongation has little additional effect (primary source)." |
| Entered by |
Uri M |
| ID |
115578 |