Growth of Bacillus subtilis under deep starvation conditions

The general assumption is that when bacteria run out of nutrients they become dormant or form spores. Here we show, using a new technique, that under deep starvation conditions non-sporulating Bacillus subtilis cells do not become dormant but continue to grow. B. subtilis can form (endo)spores and this has been regarded as the principal mechanism through which it survives long periods of nutrient depletion. However, in this study we demonstrate that non-sporulating B. subtilis cells can survive deep starvation conditions for many months. During this period, cells adopt an almost coccoid shape and become tolerant to antibiotics and oxidative stress. Interestingly, these cells appeared to be metabolically active, and transcriptome analyses indicated that their gene-expression profile differs substantially from both stationary phase cells, and exponentially growing cells. Surprisingly, using an inhibitor for cell division, we discovered that these coccoid-like B. subtilis cells are not dormant but actually grow and divide, albeit with a doubling time of ~4 days. It emerged that secreted proteases, allowing acquisition of nutrients from lysed brethren, are essential for this growth mode. In fact, nutrient levels comparable to 10,000 times diluted LB (Lysogeny broth) appeared to be sufficient to sustain this growth. The very slow growth provides an alternative strategy for B. subtilis to survive nutrient depletion and environmental stresses. We propose to call this the oligotrophic growth state. This state might be common among bacterial species to survive deep starvation conditions. RNA-seq of Bacillus subtilis grown in overnight culture, at log phase or after 14 days of deep starvation.