Complexity: Lightning causes bacteria to be more open to adding more genetic material to itself
It’s not the specifics of this article that are interesting, but more the fact that I’m constantly humbled by natures complexity and intricacy, much of which is invisible to us. When researchers learn these tiny little tidbits, they always make me smile because I think there must be a googoljillion other processes just like it that we will never learn about.
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University of Lyon researchers have found that lightning opens up pores in soil bacteria, allowing them to pick up any stray DNA present.
University of Lyon researchers have found that lightning opens up pores in soil bacteria, allowing them to pick up any stray DNA present.
The researchers suspect the phenomenon is widespread, speeding up the rate at which bacteria evolve. Genetic studies show bacteria frequently pick up foreign genes, usually from other bacteria, but natural DNA uptake rates are too sluggish to explain the observed diversity.
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