You've just isolated a new bacterium in pure culture, and you culture it on a general purpose medium where its cells have a rod-shape (bacillus) morphology.In addition to culturing it on solid media, you inoculate a slide to grow it as a biofilm.When you use confocal microscopy to image the biofilm, you observe that there are several cellular morphologies, ranging from coccus to coccobacillus to long bacillus.The best explanation for this observation is that

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Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The microenvironments within a biofilm can promote structural variation in bacterial cells, leading to different morphologies. This phenomenon is known as phenotypic heterogeneity or biofilm diversity. Therefore, it is expected to observe different bacterial cell shapes in a biofilm culture of the same species. The other options, such as a faulty microscope, impure culture, and inappropriate incubation conditions, are less likely explanations for this observation.

You've Just Isolated a New Bacterium in Pure Culture, and You