CELL 1 (IMAGE)

Rice University

CELL 1

Caption

Over the course of 93 minutes, the process Rice University researchers call asymmetric plasmid partitioning prompted a single Escherichia coli bacterium to divide into two genetically distinct types of bacteria. Daughter microbes seen fluorescing in the right images retain the DNA-carrying plasmids (marked by the yellow dots) while their now-differentiated siblings do not.

Credit

The Bennett Lab/Rice University

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