How are bacteria hypertrophic? - Biology Forum

last updated by

canan5000 16 years, 5 months ago

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- September 1, 2008 at 12:29 pm #10032
  Bio-Hazard
  Participant
  I might not be able to ask a full question, but maybe one of you can associate possible scenarios.
  I had someone recently tell me that bacteria are hypertrophic. I didn’t understand this statement, because I didn’t understand in which kind of environment the person was referring to. Do any of you know how a bacteria could possibly be hypertrophic?
- September 3, 2008 at 7:06 am #85721
  canan5000
  Participant
  Hypertrophy usually refers to an enlargement of an organ or tissue that in non tumor related and does not consist of an increase in cell number either. So for a bacteria to become hypertrophic I can think of an a couple of scenarios
  1. An increase in intercellular water concentration (hypotonic).
  2. An increase in metabolitic products or waste and either no way of excreting or a very inefficient way of excreting.
  All the above ways though seem to me to lead in death of the bacteria over time, so for a bacteria to become hypertrophic does not seem to be a very good career move.
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