Hibernating bacteria can invade hospitals and survive outer space – but their high energy bill is a weakness that scientists can strike

Researchers built a full energy budget for bacterial spore formation, the hibernation strategy that lets microbes like Bacillus subtilis survive boiling, radiation, and the vacuum of space. The full cycle of forming and reviving a spore costs nearly 10 billion ATP molecules, making it one of the most expensive things a bacterium can do, and explaining why bacteria growing in comfortable lab conditions lose the ability to sporulate within a few thousand generations.

The team found spores carry almost no ready-made fuel for waking up, relying instead on stored raw materials, and that the process leaves a vulnerable gap: a spore that sheds its armor before finding food outside is stuck half-revived. That weak point matters clinically, since spore-forming bacteria like Clostridioides difficile spread through hospitals and resist standard disinfectants, leaving plain soap and water as the reliable defense for hands.

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