The reason I ask, is because in the past there has been speculation that aging of life forms could be the result of a “death” gene. If the bacterium itself has a built in limited life span, then that gene might be more easily isolated if it existed at all.
in ideal conditions, 20 minutes before division, for E. coli, IIRC. let me citequest…BAM!
THe problem indirectly pointed out by Tars T is that they will divide - so now you have 2 - Is the 1st one dead? or is it now 2? or is one the original and the 2nd a copy?
Forever. All bacteria are about 3.5 billion years old, give or take a few hundred million.
-b
The problem with your supposed death gene is that an organism that had a damaged or deactivated copy would have a tremendous reproductive advantage over its kin. So the gene would quickly be eliminated.
Bacteria can die without undergoing binary fission, but they’re just as likely to form spores, or go into some other dormant state while waiting for conditions to improve. That makes their “death” difficult to study, as you must be sure that they aren’t just faking it.
I think the word you’re looking for is Apoptosis, the process by which cells commit suicide. As usual, google has far more on apoptosis, if you’re interested.
Not necessarily a tremendous advantage. Given that the orgaism will die anyway (disease, predator, drought, whatever…), I’m not convinced the lack of such an hypothetical gene would add much to the organism’s lifespan.
They are both children of the parent that divided.
The original one isn’t dead per se. Having ring shaped DNA means it can live forever.