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The unique reproductive strategy might allow the bacteria to claim territory quickly

Among the more than 500 species of bacteria that thrive in the human mouth, one seems to play by its own rules.

Rather than reproducing by splitting itself in two, like most bacteria do, Corynebacterium matruchotii , researchers report in the Sept. 10 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

C. matruchotii is a filamentous bacterium known to reside in plaque near the gum line. Microbiologist Scott Chimileski of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., noticed cells prolifically splitting as he and colleagues used time-lapse imaging to study live (SN: 7/11/16).  .