Interactions between Bdellovibrio and like organisms and bacteria in biofilms: beyond predator–prey dynamics

Abstract

Bdellovibrio and like organisms (BALOs) prey on Gram-negative bacteria in the planktonic phase as well as in biofilms, with the ability to reduce prey populations by orders of magnitude. During the last few years, evidence has mounted for a significant ecological role for BALOs, with important implications for our understanding of microbial community dynamics as well as for applications against pathogens, including drug-resistant pathogens, in medicine, agriculture and aquaculture, and in industrial settings for various uses. However, our understanding of biofilm predation by BALOs is still very fragmentary, including gaps in their effect on biofilm structure, on prey resistance, and on evolutionary outcomes of both predators and prey. Furthermore, their impact on biofilms has been shown to reach beyond predation, as they are reported to reduce biofilm structures of non-prey cells (including Grampositive bacteria). Here, we review the available literature on BALOs in biofilms, extending known aspects to potential mechanisms employed by the predators to grow in biofilms. Within that context, we discuss the potential ecological significance and potential future utilization of the predatory and enzymatic possibilities offered by BALOs in medical, agricultural and environmental applications.

Multispecies biofilm architecture determines bacterial exposure to phages

“…Bacteria are no exception and routinely live as collectives either free-floating or adhered to surfaces. Usually termed biofilms, these bacterial communities are abundant in natural settings [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10], as are the threats faced by biofilm-dwelling microbes, such as invading competitors [11,12], diffusible antimicrobial compounds [13], phages [14,15], and predatory bacteria [16][17][18]. While biofilms formed by just a single species do occur, multispecies biofilms are thought to be more typical of microbial communities in the natural environment [19][20][21][22].…”

Phenotypic and molecular characterization of Bdellovibrio isolates spp. in Mexico

“…In the case of the isolate LBGBsp015, it was obtained from a water sample from the municipal trace of the city of Orizaba, Veracruz (18°50'31.9"N+97°05'01.0"W), likewise, B. exovorus JSS, was found in wastewater from Ontario, Canada, to date it is the only bacterium of this species taken as a reference, and it aligns with our obtained bacterium, which could give us an indication of the origin of this species. On the other hand, the isolate LBGBsp017 was obtained from a water sample in the Ojo de Agua Lagoon in Orizaba, Veracruz (18°51'49.1"N+97°04'36.0"W) near marine algae, in a depth no greater than 15 cm, which is supported by the work of Paix and collaborators in 2019 where they talk about the distribution of BALOs in samples in the Perialpina (Koval et al, 2013;Paix et al, 2019;Mookherjee, and Jurkevitch, 2022 ). LBGBsp056, is an isolate characterized as Bacteriovorax sp., obtained from a water sample surrounding Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico as reported for Bacteriovorax samples marinus and Bacteriovorax litoralis, likewise, the isolate LBGBsp064, which was obtained from Ursus americanus, was also characterized as Bacteriovorax sp., in 2013, it was possible to isolate a strain of this species from the intestine of the fish Ophiocephalus argus, with which they analyzed its predation against Aeromonas veronica (Cao et al, 2014;Koval et al, 2015) .…”

“…Also, aquatic samples were obtained and isolates such as LBGBsp009, and from LBGBsp013 to LBGBsp017, and from LBGBsp030 to LBGBsp035, as well as from LBGBsp050 to LBGBsp058 were obtained, as reported by some authors such as Feng et al 2016 where they treated flocculated sludge isolating the Bdellovibrio strain sp. UP (Feng et al, 2016;Feng et al, 2017;Mookherjee, and Jurkevitch, 2022), recently, samples from lakes or seas have also been obtained, as in the case of Paix et al in 2019, where they took samples from Perialpine lakes ( Annecy, Bourget and Geneva lakes), and show the diversity of bacteria, observing within them members of the Peredibacteraceae families and Bacteriovoracaceae (Lambert et al, 2006;Paix et al, 2019). From the LBGBsp060 isolates, they were fecal samples from exotic animals in captivity, from which we were able to find several bacteria of the genus Bdellovibrio.…”

The potential of facultative predatory Actinomycetota spp. and prospects in agricultural sustainability

“…Myxobacteria and Bdellovibrio are δ -Proteobacteria in the bacteria phyla with well-known bacteriophagic nature ( Stolp and Starr, 1963 ; Casida, 1982 ; Berleman et al, 2006 ; Martins et al, 2022 ). Through predation attitude, Myxobacteria , and Bdellovibrio contribute to community structuring and carbon recycling in the soil food web systems and play an important ecosystem function are well-known keystone taxa ( Bratanis et al, 2020 ; Cavallo et al, 2021 ; Mookherjee and Jurkevitch, 2022 ; Ogundero et al, 2022 ; Whitworth, 2022 ; Wu et al, 2022 ). Thus, bacteria species in the actinomycetes species are gram-positive and mostly studied for secondary metabolites production and were recently discovered to exert a facultative predatory role ( Zeph and Casida, 1986 ; Hoshino et al, 2015 ; Ait Barka et al, 2016 ; Katz and Baltz, 2016 ; Baltz, 2019 ; Ouchari et al, 2019 ; Ibrahimi et al, 2020 ; Korichi et al, 2021 ).…”