Programmed cell death is a process, once seen only in more complex eukaryotic organisms, where the cell activates internal mechanisms that trigger it to death. However, a doctoral study of the Postgraduation Program in Ecology (Pgecol), conducted at the Laboratory of Cellular Biology of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) by Thiago Pereira da Silva and directed by Dr. Rossana Melo, show that this same process also occurs in bacteria living in freshwater ecosystems.
In this study microscopy techniques were used to identify the death of these bacteria, the structural changes they underwent, and the activation of proteins related to the process of programmed cell death.
It is important to emphasize that this thesis has a multidisciplinary character, since it involves the use of cell biology knowledge and techniques in the study of the ecology of microorganisms, showing how these cellular processes can affect the bacterial communities.