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One thing that bacteria need to function is to have their membrane taunt. They do this by maintaining a positive hydrolic pressure - which is accomplished by having ionic concentrations within themselves and the osmotic transport of water providing the pressure. If they were to lose this osmotic bias then they become inactive. One way to change this bias is to provide some ionic medium that will suck the water the other way. This is done with salt as in salted meat, and by sugar as in preserved fruits.

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16y ago

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