A separate protein, Mbl, seems to maintain the germ's long, rod-like shape. The finding that bacteria can have internal skeletons may help doctors combat disease. Many microbes change shape when they become infectious. When splitting firewood, some logs come apart easily, with a single blow from a sharp ax. Others can be much more stubborn, requiring that a wedge or two be driven into the wood before it finally splits.
Amoebas can be like firewood, too.
Sometimes, however, the furrow stops developing and the reproductive process stops. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have discovered that in some cases, a struggling amoeba gets help. Writing in Nature, the researchers said a few neighboring amoebas appeared to respond when one had difficulty reproducing, but only one, usually whichever was nearest, actually helped out. When the researchers used a pipette to sample the fluid around a dividing amoeba and moved the pipette elsewhere, other amoebas would follow. All rights reserved.