Microorganisms are incredibly prolific. This gives them great advantages when conquering new habitats. Under ideal conditions, one E. coli cell can become two cells within 20 minutes. The record holders among the microbes produce a new generation of offspring in just under ten minutes. These include Clostridium perfringens, the unpleasant pathogen that causes gangrene, which can double in nine minutes. With a sufficient supply of nutrients, a bacterial cell is able to produce 280 billion offspring in a single day. A human cell, on the other hand, is as slow as a snail - it only manages one cell division in the same time.

 

However, there are bacteria that top this slow life cycle. They live in the seabed of the Arctic Ocean, form spores and wait for better times - up to 100 million years.