Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA.
Department of Human Factors and Behavioral Neurobiology, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA.
J Bacteriol. 2021 Jan 11;203(3). doi: 10.1128/JB.00259-20.
is a cosmopolitan marine bacterium that oftentimes displays different colony morphologies, switching from a smooth to a wrinkly phenotype in order to adapt to changes in the environment. This wrinkly phenotype has also been associated with increased biofilm formation, an essential characteristic for to adhere to substrates, to suspended debris, and within the light organs of sepiolid squids. Elevated levels of biofilm formation are correlated with increased microbial survival of exposure to environmental stressors and the ability to expand niche breadth. Since has a biphasic life history strategy between its free-living and symbiotic states, we were interested in whether the wrinkly morphotype demonstrated differences in its expression profile in comparison to the naturally occurring and more common smooth variant. We show that genes involved in major biochemical cascades, including those involved in protein sorting, oxidative stress, and membrane transport, play a role in the wrinkly phenotype. Interestingly, only a few unique genes are specifically involved in macromolecule biosynthesis in the wrinkly phenotype, which underlies the importance of other pathways utilized for adaptation under the conditions in which bacteria are producing this change in phenotype. These results provide the first comprehensive analysis of the complex form of genetic activation that underlies the diversity in morphologies of when switching between two different colony morphotypes, each representing a unique biofilm ecotype. The wrinkly bacterial colony phenotype has been associated with increased squid host colonization in The significance of our research is in identifying the genetic mechanisms that are responsible for heightened biofilm formation in This report also advances our understanding of gene regulation in and brings to the forefront a number of previously overlooked genetic networks. Several loci that were identified in this study were not previously known to be associated with biofilm formation in .
是一种世界性的海洋细菌，它经常表现出不同的菌落形态，从光滑形态转变为皱缩形态，以适应环境的变化。这种皱缩形态也与生物膜形成的增加有关，这是 黏附在基质上、悬浮碎片上以及在枪乌贼的发光器官内的重要特征。生物膜形成的增加与微生物在暴露于环境胁迫时的生存能力以及扩大生态位的能力有关。由于 在自由生活和共生状态之间具有两阶段的生活史策略，我们感兴趣的是皱缩形态是否在其表达谱上与自然发生的和更为常见的光滑变体有所不同。我们表明，参与主要生化级联反应的基因，包括涉及蛋白质分拣、氧化应激和膜运输的基因，在皱缩形态中发挥作用。有趣的是，只有少数独特的基因专门参与皱缩形态中的大分子生物合成，这突显了在 产生这种表型变化的条件下，用于适应的其他途径的重要性。这些结果提供了第一个全面分析的复杂形式的遗传激活，这是在两种不同的菌落形态之间切换时， 形态多样性的基础，每个形态都代表着独特的生物膜生态型。皱缩细菌菌落形态与增加鱿鱼宿主定殖有关。我们研究的意义在于确定导致 在生物膜形成增加的遗传机制。本报告还增进了我们对 基因调控的理解，并提出了许多以前被忽视的遗传网络。在这项研究中确定的几个基因座以前与 中的生物膜形成无关。
