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Biofilms

Have exploding cells blown up MV dogma?

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 14, pages 334–335 (2016)Cite this article

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P. aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that can form interstitial biofilms in the extracellular space of human tissue, notably in individuals with cystic fibrosis. Live-cell imaging of both interstitial and submerged P. aeruginosa biofilms showed that a subpopulation of cells undergo a rapid (<10 s) transition from a rod-shaped cell to a round cell, which in most cases precedes, by no more than 1 minute, an explosive cell lysis event that releases eDNA into the matrix. These changes are consistent with a loss of structural integrity in the peptidoglycan of the cell wall. Moreover, they are reminiscent of the cell lysis events precipitated by lytic phages, which are induced by the activation of the RecA-mediated SOS stress response. Indeed, experiments with a recA deletion mutant showed that explosive cell lysis in P. aeruginosa biofilms is also dependent on the SOS stress response. In further agreement with a phage origin for the lysis mechanism, P. aeruginosa has a cryptic prophage that is predicted to encode a phage-like endolysin, Lys. Genetic experiments showed that eDNA release was dependent on the endolytic activity of Lys and that the loss of this activity was as detrimental to the structural organization of the biofilm as eDNA degradation by DNase I.

super-resolution microscopy showed that MVs were formed by the reannealing of membrane fragments following explosive cell lysis

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References

  1. Turnbull, L., Toyofuku, M. et al. Explosive cell lysis as a mechanism for the biogenesis of bacterial membrane vesicles and biofilms. Nat. Commun. 7, 11220 (2016)

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  1. Naomi Attar
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Attar, N. Have exploding cells blown up MV dogma?. Nat Rev Microbiol 14, 334–335 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2016.68

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2016.68

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