The prevalence and origin of exoprotease-producing cells in the Bacillus subtilis biofilm

Marlow, Victoria L.; Cianfanelli, Francesca Romana; Porter, Michael; Cairns, Lynne S.; Dale, J. Kim; Stanley‐Wall, Nicola R.

doi:10.1099/mic.0.072389-0

Cited by 52 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Miners promote the degradation of large biopolymers into smaller and more nutritive peptides for the community. This subpopulation differentiates preferentially from motile cells or matrix‐producing cells that are located in close proximity to the air surface (Marlow et al ., ). This is consistent with the fact that DegU‐ON cells positively regulate the expression of BslA, a water‐repellent protein on the surface of the biofilm that is required for biofilm integrity (Kobayashi and Iwano, ; Hobley et al ., ).…”

Section: Cell Heterogeneity Within the Biofilmmentioning

confidence: 97%

Molecular mechanisms involved in Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation

Mielich-Süss

López

2014

Environmental Microbiology

156

127

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SummaryBiofilms are the predominant lifestyle of bacteria in natural environments, and they severely impact our societies in many different fashions. Therefore, biofilm formation is a topic of growing interest in microbiology, and different bacterial models are currently studied to better understand the molecular strategies that bacteria undergo to build biofilms. Among those, biofilms of the soil-dwelling bacterium Bacillus subtilis are commonly used for this purpose. Bacillus subtilis biofilms show remarkable architectural features that are a consequence of sophisticated programmes of cellular specialization and cell-cell communication within the community. Many laboratories are trying to unravel the biological role of the morphological features of biofilms, as well as exploring the molecular basis underlying cellular differentiation. In this review, we present a general perspective of the current state of knowledge of biofilm formation in B. subtilis and thereby placing a special emphasis on summarizing the most recent discoveries in the field.

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Section: Cell Heterogeneity Within the Biofilmmentioning

confidence: 97%

Molecular mechanisms involved in Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation

Mielich-Süss

López

2014

Environmental Microbiology

156

127

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“…In addition, matrixproducing cells also produce antimicrobial toxins (Skf and Sdp) that kill other species or those sibling cells which do not express the immunity genes (i.e., cannibalism) (117)(118)(119)(120). Protease-producing cells secrete bacillopeptidase and subtilisin, two proteolytic enzymes, which are encoded by the bpr and aprE genes (98,121,122). Finally, spores are stress-resistant dormant cells that are formed during the developmental process of endosporulation (84,(123)(124)(125).…”

Section: B Subtilis Differentiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These phenotypic states can be recognized from the multimodal distribution of gene expression, concerning the genes that encode for the respective phenotypes. For B. subtilis, bimodal distributions in gene expression have been associated with a number of (not necessarily mutually exclusive) phenotypes that appear during biofilm formation (96)(97)(98): motility, surfactin production, matrix production, protease production, and sporulation. These phenotypes are typically referred to as cell types.…”

Section: B Subtilis Differentiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Division of Labor in Biofilms: the Ecology of Cell Differentiation

2015

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The dense aggregation of cells on a surface, as seen in biofilms, inevitably results in both environmental and cellular heterogeneity. For example, nutrient gradients can trigger cells to differentiate into various phenotypic states. Not only do cells adapt physiologically to the local environmental conditions, but they also differentiate into cell types that interact with each other. This allows for task differentiation and, hence, the division of labor. In this article, we focus on cell differentiation and the division of labor in three bacterial species: Myxococcus xanthus, Bacillus subtilis , and Pseudomonas aeruginosa . During biofilm formation each of these species differentiates into distinct cell types, in some cases leading to cooperative interactions. The division of labor and the cooperative interactions between cell types are assumed to yield an emergent ecological benefit. Yet in most cases the ecological benefits have yet to be elucidated. A notable exception is M. xanthus , in which cell differentiation within fruiting bodies facilitates the dispersal of spores. We argue that the ecological benefits of the division of labor might best be understood when we consider the dynamic nature of both biofilm formation and degradation.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For those experiments, alternative methods, such as flow cytometry or colony thin sectioning, are used (27,28). In some cases, macroscopic colonies can still be subjected to microscopy, but only when images are taken at the colony edge, where there is a monolayer of cells, or when the colonies are dissected before microscopy (28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33). Studies that perform microscopy on macroscopic colonies typically show qualitative results, such as representative images with fluorescent overlays (e.g., see the work of Fall et al [29] and López et al [32]).…”

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confidence: 99%

New Tools for Comparing Microscopy Images: Quantitative Analysis of Cell Types in Bacillus subtilis

2015

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bFluorescence microscopy is a method commonly used to examine individual differences between bacterial cells, yet many studies still lack a quantitative analysis of fluorescence microscopy data. Here we introduce some simple tools that microbiologists can use to analyze and compare their microscopy images. We show how image data can be converted to distribution data. These data can be subjected to a cluster analysis that makes it possible to objectively compare microscopy images. The distribution data can further be analyzed using distribution fitting. We illustrate our methods by scrutinizing two independently acquired data sets, each containing microscopy images of a doubly labeled Bacillus subtilis strain. For the first data set, we examined the expression of srfA and tapA, two genes which are expressed in surfactin-producing and matrix-producing cells, respectively. For the second data set, we examined the expression of eps and tapA; these genes are expressed in matrix-producing cells. We show that srfA is expressed by all cells in the population, a finding which contrasts with a previously reported bimodal distribution of srfA expression. In addition, we show that eps and tapA do not always have the same expression profiles, despite being expressed in the same cell type: both operons are expressed in cell chains, while single cells mainly express eps. These findings exemplify that the quantification and comparison of microscopy data can yield insights that otherwise would go unnoticed. Bacterial cells can develop into distinct and discrete phenotypic states, which are typically referred to as cell types (1-4). Even when cells experience nearly identical environmental conditions, differentiation is possible (i.e., probabilistic cell differentiation) due to regulatory feedback loops that amplify inherent cellular noise (5-8). In many cases, however, cell differentiation is triggered by environmental changes (2, 9-12). Besides responding to environmental conditions, cells can also modify their environment. For example, they can produce extracellular polysaccharides, communication signals, and antimicrobials (13-15). The feedback between cells and their environment drives colony development (14, 16).In Bacillus subtilis, cell behavior is often studied in the context of colony development (17). B. subtilis cells can differentiate into a number of cell types, and each of them is associated with a unique set of phenotypes (1, 2, 18). The regulatory mechanisms underlying cell differentiation are often studied using time-lapse fluorescence microscopy, in which gene expression is monitored using fluorescent reporters (8,(18)(19)(20)(21). Microscopy images can be analyzed using advanced image-analysis software, which allows the detailed quantification of gene expression along time (22,23). In this way, Veening and colleagues (24) showed that the timing of sporulation in B. subtilis depends on epigenetic inheritance. In a similar way, Levine and colleagues (25) showed that positive-feedback loops affect the timing of s...

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The prevalence and origin of exoprotease-producing cells in the Bacillus subtilis biofilm

Cited by 52 publications

References 31 publications

Molecular mechanisms involved in Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation

Molecular mechanisms involved in Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation

Division of Labor in Biofilms: the Ecology of Cell Differentiation

New Tools for Comparing Microscopy Images: Quantitative Analysis of Cell Types in Bacillus subtilis

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