Pili mediated intercellular forces shape heterogeneous bacterial microcolonies prior to multicellular differentiation

Poenisch W, Eckenrode KB, Alzurqa K, Nasrollahi H, Weber C, Zaburdaev V, Biais N (2018)

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2018

Journal

Scientific Reports Nature Publishing Group: Open Access Journals - Option B

Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

Book Volume: 8

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-34754-4

Abstract

Microcolonies are aggregates of a few dozen to a few thousand cells exhibited by many bacteria. The formation of microcolonies is a crucial step towards the formation of more mature bacterial communities known as biofilms, but also marks a significant change in bacterial physiology. Within a microcolony, bacteria forgo a single cell lifestyle for a communal lifestyle hallmarked by high cell density and physical interactions between cells potentially altering their behaviour. It is thus crucial to understand how initially identical single cells start to behave differently while assembling in these tight communities. Here we show that cells in the microcolonies formed by the human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) present differential motility behaviors within an hour upon colony formation. Observation of merging microcolonies and tracking of single cells within microcolonies reveal a heterogeneous motility behavior: cells close to the surface of the microcolony exhibit a much higher motility compared to cells towards the center. Numerical simulations of a biophysical model for the microcolonies at the single cell level suggest that the emergence of differential behavior within a multicellular microcolony of otherwise identical cells is of mechanical origin. It could suggest a route toward further bacterial differentiation and ultimately mature biofilms.

Authors with CRIS profile

Vasily Zaburdaev

Additional Organisation(s)

Lehrstuhl für Mathematik in den Lebenswissenschaften

Involved external institutions

Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme (MPI PKS) / Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems DE Germany (DE) City University of New York CUNY US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Poenisch, W., Eckenrode, K.B., Alzurqa, K., Nasrollahi, H., Weber, C., Zaburdaev, V., & Biais, N. (2018). Pili mediated intercellular forces shape heterogeneous bacterial microcolonies prior to multicellular differentiation. Scientific Reports, 8. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34754-4

MLA:

Poenisch, Wolfram, et al. "Pili mediated intercellular forces shape heterogeneous bacterial microcolonies prior to multicellular differentiation." Scientific Reports 8 (2018).

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