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A fundamental characteristic of pathogenic mycobacteria is the ability to persist asymptomatically within a host for months to years after initial infection and then suddenly cause active disease. How do mycobacteria accomplish this feat? To find out, researchers in Sweden used flow cytometry and microscopy to assess changes in cell size and DNA content distributions of Mycobacterium marinum cultures over the complete life cycle, from initial inoculation onto fresh medium, through exponential growth, to stationary phase.
The M. marinum cultures progressed from an initial mixed population of very small cells and large ones, to large cells, and then back to a mixed population of large cells and very small ones; DNA content ranged from one to f…