Single-cell twitching chemotaxis in developing biofilms
Single-cell twitching chemotaxis in developing biofilms
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1600760113
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发表时间：
2016-06-07
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Durham, William M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Oliveira, Nuno M.;Fostera, Kevin R.;Durham, William M.
细菌形成表面附着的群落，称为生物膜，它是细菌生物学及其影响我们的核心。尽管表面附着的细菌经常经历很强的化学梯度，但仍不清楚单细胞是否能够有效地在表面上进行趋化。在这里，我们使用微流体化学梯度和大规模并行自动跟踪来研究病原体铜绿假单胞菌在早期生物膜发育过程中的行为。我们证明，利用基于菌毛的“抽搐”运动和 Chp 化学感应系统，单个细胞可以有效地向化学引诱剂移动。此外，我们发现了这种表面趋化性背后的行为机制：当远离趋化剂来源时，细胞更频繁地反转方向。这些纠正措施会迅速触发，通常是在任性的细胞冒险进入一微米之前。我们的工作表明，单个细菌可以以亚微米精度引导其运动，并揭示细菌生物膜内隐藏的趋化潜力。
Bacteria form surface-attached communities, known as biofilms, which are central to bacterial biology and how they affect us. Although surface-attached bacteria often experience strong chemical gradients, it remains unclear whether single cells can effectively perform chemotaxis on surfaces. Here we use microfluidic chemical gradients and massively parallel automated tracking to study the behavior of the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa during early biofilm development. We show that individual cells can efficiently move toward chemoattractants using pili-based "twitching" motility and the Chp chemosensory system. Moreover, we discovered the behavioral mechanism underlying this surface chemotaxis: Cells reverse direction more frequently when moving away from chemoattractant sources. These corrective maneuvers are triggered rapidly, typically before a wayward cell has ventured a fraction of a micron. Our work shows that single bacteria can direct their motion with submicron precision and reveals the hidden potential for chemotaxis within bacterial biofilms.