We are aware that bacteria can adapt and survive in many different external environments. Understanding how bacteria adapt to their external environments is a new challenge in the field of molecular microbiology. Scientists want to understand how they rapidly adapt and how they are still able to reproduce even when they are not comfortable in their environments. Understanding how bacteria react to external environment change can lead to understanding how they effectively resist antibiotics.

Researchers from Uppsala University have presented a model on how bacteria rapidly adapt to changes in their environment through “smart regulation of their gene expression”.  Bacteria have to change their protein levels in order to adapt to their external environments. In order for bacteria to live and reproduce they need to get the correct amount of nutrients from their environments; but what happens when the environment changes and the amounts of certain nutrients change? Scientists know that bacteria must adjust their enzyme levels if they want to benefit from the nutrients around them in their environments. They also understand that if the environment changes rapidly than the bacteria need to adjust themselves in order to conform to the environment.

Researchers are also looking at the physiology of bacteria because understanding their composition and make up will help scientists understand how they are able to adjust to their environments. They have come to the conclusion that the reason that bacteria can still reproduce and survive when their environment undergoes rapid change is due to their proteome, or composition of their proteins.

This study will help researchers to understand bacteria and their behavior better. Bacteria and other microbes are all around us and we need to appreciate them in order to fully understand them. It is important for us to understand them because we need to learn how to live symbiotically with good bacteria and we need to understand how to defend ourselves against pathogenic bacteria. 

          http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131202161952.htm