Surface Sensing and Adaptation in Bacteria.

Surface Sensing and Adaptation in Bacteria. Annu Rev Microbiol. 2020 Sep 08;74:735-760 Authors: Laventie BJ, Jenal U Abstract Bacteria thrive both in liquids and attached to surfaces. The concentration of bacteria on surfaces is generally much higher than in the surrounding environment, offering bacteria ample opportunity for mutualistic, symbiotic, and pathogenic interactions. To efficiently populate surfaces, they have evolved mechanisms to sense mechanical or chemical cues upon contact with solid substrata. This is of particular importance for pathogens that interact with host tissue surfaces. In this review we discuss how bacteria are able to sense surfaces and how they use this information to adapt their physiology and behavior to this new environment. We first survey mechanosensing and chemosensing mechanisms and outline how specific macromolecular structures can inform bacteria about surfaces. We then discuss how mechanical cues are converted to biochemical signals to activate specific cellular processes in a defined chronological order and describe the role of two key second messengers, c-di-GMP and cAMP, in this process. PMID: 32905753 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Annual Review of Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Annu Rev Microbiol Source Type: research