The Microbial Olympics

Competition is fierce in the microbial world, making evolutionary training and fitness essential for a microorganism to survive and thrive. To honour this spirit, in this Essay an expert panel has selected seven special events to make up the inaugural Microbial Olympics. Every four years, the Olympi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature reviews. Microbiology 2012-08, Vol.10 (8), p.583-588
Main Authors: Youle, Merry, Rohwer, Forest, Stacy, Apollo, Whiteley, Marvin, Steel, Bradley C., Delalez, Nicolas J., Nord, Ashley L., Berry, Richard M., Armitage, Judith P., Kamoun, Sophien, Hogenhout, Saskia, Diggle, Stephen P., Gurney, James, Pollitt, Eric J. G., Boetius, Antje, Cary, S. Craig
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Antibiosis
Bacteria
Biological Evolution
Biota
Boxing
Competition
Environmental Microbiology
essay
Infectious Diseases
Life Sciences
Medical Microbiology
Microbiology
Microorganisms
Olympic games
Parasitology
Portrayals
Staphylococcus infections
Swimming
Training
Virology
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Summary:Competition is fierce in the microbial world, making evolutionary training and fitness essential for a microorganism to survive and thrive. To honour this spirit, in this Essay an expert panel has selected seven special events to make up the inaugural Microbial Olympics. Every four years, the Olympic Games plays host to competitors who have built on their natural talent by training for many years to become the best in their chosen discipline. Similar spirit and endeavour can be found throughout the microbial world, in which every day is a competition to survive and thrive. Microorganisms are trained through evolution to become the fittest and the best adapted to a particular environmental niche or lifestyle, and to innovate when the 'rules of the game' are changed by alterations to their natural habitats. In this Essay, we honour the best competitors in the microbial world by inviting them to take part in the inaugural Microbial Olympics.
ISSN:1740-1526
1740-1534
DOI:10.1038/nrmicro2837