It is possible to artificially create bacterial cells that completely lack a cell wall. The resulting cells, called L-forms, can be maintained and cultured. L-forms have been known for many years and...

It is possible to artificially create bacterial cells that completely lack a cell wall. The resulting cells, called L-forms, can be maintained and cultured. L-forms have been known for many years and have been of interest because of their unusual physiological characteristics. One of their most unusual features is that they reproduce by becoming deformed and then “falling apart,” producing two or more additional L-forms. The progeny L-forms then grow larger and reproduce by a similar method. This is done without the aid of the normal division machinery. In 2013 scientists in the United Kingdom reported their attempts to understand how L-forms “divide.” They generated mutant strains of Bacillus subtilis L-forms that promoted L-form proliferation. The only mutations found with this effect were those that increased production of membrane lipids. They argued that these lipids were inserted into the L-form membrane and that this increased the surface area of the L-forms without increasing their volume. The increased surface-to-volume ratio caused the cells to assume unusual shapes and experience torsional stress. The torsional stress served as the biophysical force causing the L-forms to split apart. They also suggested that the study of L-form division provided a good model for how primitive cells divided before the evolution of the complex division machinery that exists in modern cells. Why did they suggest this? Do you agree? Explain your answer.