This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Researchers at Aarhus University have discovered that bacteria can continue producing DNA after they die. And they have found a way to control what gets produced.
The discovery could eventually contribute to the development of new biological materials. Researchers at Aarhus University have found something that could belong in a horror film: bacteria that continue producing DNA after they are dead. Or rather, the machinery they leave behind carries on working.
And behind it all are viruses that both kill the bacteria and provide some of the equipment. The researchers have even worked out how to get the bacteria's "zombie factories" to produce DNA according to a particular blueprint. They have published both the discovery and the method in Angewandte Chemie.
Bacteria often live in communities known as biofilms. They are surrounded by a sticky substance that contains DNA, among other things. It serves as both building material and protection—for example, in the plaque we brush off our teeth.
Many bacteria also carry what are known as bacteriophages—viruses that infect only bacteria. Some bacteriophages can lie dormant as part of a bacterium's genetic material. The researchers deprived two bacterial species, Shewanella oneidensis and Bacillus subtilis, of nutrients.
This caused some of the dormant viruses to wake up and multiply. Eventually, they burst the bacterial cells open. You might think that would bring all work to a halt.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
