Characterization of growth dynamics and morphology of bacteria under long term starvation

Many bacteria, including Escherichia coli, can survive for years within exhausted media following resource exhaustion. Previous studies suggest that even under starvation conditions of months, E. coli populations still undergo mutation accumulation and subject to selection. Yet, the growth dynamics and phenotypic heterogeneity of E. coli as during long term starvation is not fully understood. In this work, we used microfluidics to image the growth dynamics and morphology on E. coli that spend years in exhausted media. We show that part of the population can still slowly replicate in exhausted media even after years without nutrient replenishment. We characterize the interplay between the morphology of the cells, their growth dynamics under starvation conditions, and their growth dynamics as they are introduced back to rich conditions.