Bacteria Do Not Appear to Age

This week, we are keeping the articles lighter and shorter. After all, last week had some deep stuff.

Do bacteria show the effects of age? Yes. No. Both. Maybe. What bacteria do with aged and damaged biochemicals is yet another indication of the Creator's ingenuity.

Bacterial cells are singularly long-lived. They keep dividing for what seems like forever. But because they are made of biochemicals, their DNA and proteins should suffer damage similar to what any other cell endures, including animal cells. What keeps bacterial cell components from wearing down?

Microbiologists have been trying to find out how these single-cell organisms handle chemical damage, which relentlessly accumulates due to friction and uncontrolled chemical reactions. So far, the results have been confusing, but a new analysis appears to have confirmed that bacteria have a remarkably well-engineered damage-reduction program.

You can read the rest of "The Ingenious Way That Bacteria Resist Aging", here.