AS if it’s not hard enough at the bottom of the food chain, being cannibalised by your own bottom-dwelling compatriots must add insult to injury. The soil dwelling Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis is fully equipped to take appropriate action when faced with food shortages; a sub-population of cells initiate a process of dormancy by turning themselves into hardy, robust spores. In this form the bacteria are capable of enduring temporary, or prolonged, harsh environmental conditions.
However, this is not a process entered into without some careful deliberation. Sporulation, the act of forming a spore, is an energy intensive process that results in the formation of the essentially inactive spore, and the death of the ‘mother’ cell producing it. It comes as no surprise, therefore, to discover that B. subtilis has evolved a means of delaying sporulation as long as possible.
In an alternative strategy, a sub-population have a genetic pre-disposition to become cannibals.
Mental Indigestion 