Disappearance of growth advantage in stationary phase (GASP) phenomenon under a high magnetic field

The phenomenon called growth advantage in stationary phase (GASP) originally discovered by Kolter et al. was confirmed using two bacterial strains, Escherichia coli ZK126Nalr and ZK126Smr, under the geomagnetic field. However, when the same experiment was conducted in an inhomogeneous high magnetic field of 5.2–6.1 T, almost no death of ZK126Smr was observed and the GASP phenomenon disappeared. When the same experiment was conducted in a homogeneous magnetic field of 7 T, the GASP was significantly delayed due to the much slower death rate of ZK126Smr than that in the geomagnetic field. These data are consistent with our previous finding that a high magnetic field reduces the death rate of bacteria and enhances their survivability in a stationary phase.