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Intercellular adhesion promotes clonal mixing in growing bacterial populations
Anton Kan1, Ilenne Del Valle2, Tim Rudge3,4
1Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
|September 21, 2018
Summary
Bacterial intercellular adhesion, driven by the Ag43 protein in Escherichia coli, influences colony structure. This study reveals how adhesion affects bacterial population spatial organization and biofilm development.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Biophysics
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Biofilms are dense bacterial communities with organized structures.
- Intercellular adhesion is a key bacterial property influencing biofilm architecture.
- Understanding adhesion's role is crucial for controlling bacterial populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of intercellular adhesion on the internal structure of bacterial colonies.
- To engineer bacterial colonies with controlled adhesive properties.
- To develop a platform for studying intercellular interactions in bacterial populations.
Main Methods:
- Engineered Escherichia coli expressing the self-recognizing Ag43 adhesin protein.
- Utilized an artificial colony patterning system based on plasmid segregation to mark clonal lineages.
- Employed microscopy, image processing, and computational modeling to analyze colony morphology.
Main Results:
- Intercellular adhesion induced aggregation in liquid culture and altered microcolony morphology.
- Adhesion elongated the fractal-like boundary between cell lineages when both domains were adhesive.
- Increased rotational motion during colony growth was observed due to adhesion.
Conclusions:
- Adhesive intercellular interactions significantly impact bacterial population spatial organization.
- This research provides insights for biofilm engineering and controlling bacterial communities.
- The developed platform offers a robust method for studying intercellular interactions' influence on bacterial spatial structure.
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