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  • Review Article
  • Published:

Sticking together: building a biofilm the Bacillus subtilis way

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 11, pages 157–168 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • Bacillus subtilis is a model non-pathogenic Gram-positive bacterium that has been used to study biofilms. These ubiquitous communities of tightly associated bacteria are encased in a self-produced extracellular matrix that holds the constituent cells together.

  • Within a biofilm, genetically identical B. subtilis cells differentiate, and cells expressing different sets of genes have distinct functions.

  • B. subtilis cells are able to sense and respond to diverse extracellular cues using a complex regulatory network composed of several overlapping subnetworks, all of which control the genes involved in biofilm formation. These cues range from self-produced signals, such as surfactin, to natural products produced by other organisms found in the soil.

  • Several self-produced molecules, such as d-amino acids and polyamines, are secreted late during the life cycle of a biofilm and trigger disassembly of the community. These molecules also seem to be effective in the dissolution of biofilms formed by other bacteria.

  • B. subtilis is a natural colonizer of plant roots and is commonly used as a biocontrol agent. Biofilm formation is important for plant root colonization and plant protection.

  • Although researchers have uncovered the multiple mechanisms controlling biofilm formation in B. subtilis, understanding how this organism integrates these regulatory inputs is one of the major outstanding challenges in the field.

Abstract

Biofilms are ubiquitous communities of tightly associated bacteria encased in an extracellular matrix. Bacillus subtilis has long served as a robust model organism to examine the molecular mechanisms of biofilm formation, and a number of studies have revealed that this process is regulated by several integrated pathways. In this Review, we focus on the molecular mechanisms that control B. subtilis biofilm assembly, and then briefly summarize the current state of knowledge regarding biofilm disassembly. We also discuss recent progress that has expanded our understanding of B. subtilis biofilm formation on plant roots, which are a natural habitat for this soil bacterium.

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Figure 1: The life cycle of a Bacillus subtilis biofilm.
Figure 2: Laboratory-grown Bacillus subtilis biofilms.
Figure 3: Simplified schematic of the regulatory network that controls biofilm formation in Bacillus subtilis.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to E. Shank for her invaluable feedback on the preparation of this Review. Work in the authors' laboratories related to B. subtilis biofilms was funded by the US National Institutes of Health grants GM58213 (to R.K.) and GM18546 (to R.L.)

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  1. Yunrong Chai

    Present address: Present address: Department of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Hera Vlamakis, Pascale Beauregard & Roberto Kolter

  2. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Yunrong Chai & Richard Losick

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information S1 (movie)

Movie of Bacillus subtilis cells forming a colony biofilm at room temperature over a period of approximately 9 days on MSgg medium. (MOV 12837 kb)

Glossary

Rhizosphere

A narrow region of soil that surrounds the root of a plant and is directly influenced by plant root secretions and associated soil microorganisms.

Biocontrol

The protection of plants against diseases by using biological control agents such as beneficial bacteria.

Chaining

An event that occurs when daughter cells divide but remain connected by polar cell wall peptidoglycans.

Epigenetic switch

A regulatory switch that imposes heritable changes in gene expression by a mechanism that does not involve genetic mutation.

TetR-type transcriptional repressor

A two-domain protein with a DNA-binding domain and a small ligand-binding domain. Normally, repression is relieved when a specific small molecule binds to the ligand-binding domain.

Cannibalism

In the context of Bacillus subtilis: killing of siblings through the secretion of a toxin. In a genetically identical population, some cells will secrete a toxin, but these cells also express the genes that confer resistance. Siblings that do not express the toxin or resistance genes will be killed.

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Vlamakis, H., Chai, Y., Beauregard, P. et al. Sticking together: building a biofilm the Bacillus subtilis way. Nat Rev Microbiol 11, 157–168 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2960

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