Differential production of Psl in planktonic cells leads to two distinctive attaching phenotypes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Differential production of Psl in planktonic cells leads to two distinctive attaching phenotypes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2018 May 11;: Authors: Yang S, Cheng X, Jin Z, Xia A, Ni L, Zhang R, Jin F Abstract Exponentially growing bacteria in a well-mixed planktonic culture are generally assumed to be physiologically and phenotypically uniform, and distinct from their genetically identical counterparts living in biofilms. Using a combination of high spatiotemporal microscopy and a bacterial tracking algorithm, in this study, we showed that the planktonic cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa differently attach to surfaces even when they remained in the exponential phase. We consistently observed that fast- and slow-attaching phenotypes coexist in planktonic cells, regardless of their growth phase. Furthermore, we found that 1) the distinct attaching phenotypes of planktonic cells resulted from the differential production of Psl, and that 2) the RsmYZ/RsmA signaling pathway mainly regulated the differential production of Psl. Our results indicate that the differential production of Psl in P. aeruginosa plays a significant role in biofilm development and formation.IMPORTANCE The attachment of planktonic cells to surfaces is the first and most crucial step in biofilm formation. In this paper, we show that planktonic cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa differently attach to surfaces. Typically, in the later exponential phase...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Appl Environ Microbiol Source Type: research