Consequently, periods of dormancy or negligible growth are the rule rather than the exception.
Starvation leads to profound developmental changes.
The most dramatic response to starvation is the generation of dormant spores by many species of gram-positive bacteria and the generation of multicellular fruiting bodies by myxobacteria. In contrast, many gram negative bacteria, e. g., enteric bacteria like Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica , do not enter a dormant state but maintain a low level of metabolism combined with an increased resistance to environmental stresses. Although not considered a typical starvation-induced response, bacteria express a variety of surface structures in response to diverse environmental conditions. Often, these structures are proteinaceous filaments extending out from the bacterial cell surface. These structures serve the purpose of mediating contact between the bacterium and a eukaryotic cell surface, a tissue matrix or serum protein, or to other bacteria, conspecific or of other species.