Blow up a long balloon and two things happen: it gets longer and it gets wider. Now imagine a living cell that inflates itself under enormous pressure and yet only grows longer, never adding width.

Scientists have long known that bacteria come in many shapes and sizes, but understanding what those differences mean has remained a major challenge, especially for species that can’t be grown in the ...

Bacteria come in a wide variety of shapes, which are important for their fitness in their respective ecological niches. However, despite intensive research, the factors that determine the shape of ...

Bacteria come in a surprising variety of shapes: the more commonly known are coccus, bacillus. But curved cell shapes are also widespread among bacteria and important for cellular motility, virulence, ...

Bacteria come in all shapes and sizes -- some are straight as a rod, others twist like a corkscrew. Shape plays an important role in how bacteria infiltrate and attack cells in the body. The helical ...