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Comment
. 2017 Sep 8:6:e30734.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.30734.

Promiscuous bacteria have staying power

Ruth C Massey  1 , Daniel J Wilson  2
Affiliations
Comment

Promiscuous bacteria have staying power

Ruth C Massey et al. Elife. .

Abstract

Being able to take up DNA from their environment might allow pneumococcal bacteria to colonize the human nose and throat for longer periods of time.

Keywords: GWAS; S. pneumoniae; carriage duration; epidemiology; evolutionary biology; genomics; heritability; infectious disease; microbiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

No competing interests declared.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from a child can be grown on blood agar.
Pneumococci grow as glistening colonies on agar plates. Blood is included in the agar because it provides an enzyme that can neutralize the harmful amount of hydrogen peroxide that the bacteria naturally produce.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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