Research is the first to unlock the secret of microbial slime
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 - 15:23
in Biology & Nature
The slimy outer layer of fungi and bacteria known as the "extracellular matrix," or ECM, has the consistency of jelly and acts as a protective and envelope layer. But, according to a recent study in the journal iScience, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst in collaboration with Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the ECM of some microbes only gels when oxalic acid or other simple acids are present.