Filamentous bacterial growth

ACTIN-BASED BACTERIAL MOTILITY ACTIN FILAMENT GROWTH (Polymerization Zone Model)... 

One classical and early example of selective inhibition of DNA biosynthesis is shown in Fig. 3 for the anitbiotic, mitomycin C29 A concentration of 0.1 pg/ml (3 x 10 7 M) completely inhibited DNA synthesis in E. coli B, while RNA synthesis, protein synthesis and growth meaning turbidity, i.e. cell mass increase, continued. However, after the experimental period of only 90 min, the number of viable bacteria had decreased by 85 per cent. By that time, bacterial filaments were visible under the microscope. 

In experiments initially designed to study the effects of electric fields upon the growth of the bacterium Escherichia coli E. coli), Rosenberg et al. (109) observed the unusual phenomenon of filamentous growth. The bacterial cells, which normally divide rapidly, grew to 300 times their usual size and did not divide. This observation was eventually found to derive from the presence of Pt(II) and Pt(IV) ammine chloride complexes formed in situ by electrolysis at the platinum electrodes. Further studies showed one cause of the filamentation to be cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) cis-... 

---