Film Time

Genes in developing animals and plants switch on or off – like paint brushes coming down and up on a page, they express different traits in different places at different times. Gradually an overall picture emerges. Such developmental ‘clocks’ define how plants and animal tissues organise and communicate in the overall organism. Here, researchers find similar mechanisms in an organism billions of years older. These Bacillus subtilis bacteria develop a pattern of concentric rings (artificially coloured here), each made of thousands of single bacterial cells and contributing to a thriving communal colony called a biofilm. Using a combination of mathematical modelling and experiments, researchers examine the genes helping to segment the bacteria, finding some rings serve as sites for the birth of new spores. Learning more about the underlying clock, and the evolution of development, may help in tackling stubborn biofilms in hospitals and kitchens, limiting the spread of infections.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Kwang-Tao Chou, Dong-yeon D.Lee and Jian-geng Chiou, and colleagues
• Molecular Biology Section, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Cell, January 2022