Dataset Information

Interrupting peptidoglycan deacetylation during Bdellovibrio predator-prey interaction prevents ultimate destruction of prey wall, liberating bacterial-ghosts.

ABSTRACT: The peptidoglycan wall, located in the periplasm between the inner and outer membranes of the cell envelope in Gram-negative bacteria, maintains cell shape and endows osmotic robustness. Predatory Bdellovibrio bacteria invade the periplasm of other bacterial prey cells, usually crossing the peptidoglycan layer, forming transient structures called bdelloplasts within which the predators replicate. Prey peptidoglycan remains intact for several hours, but is modified and then degraded by escaping predators. Here we show predation is altered by deleting two Bdellovibrio N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) deacetylases, one of which we show to have a unique two domain structure with a novel regulatory"plug". Deleting the deacetylases limits peptidoglycan degradation and rounded prey cell "ghosts" persist after mutant-predator exit. Mutant predators can replicate unusually in the periplasmic region between the peptidoglycan wall and the outer membrane rather than between wall and inner-membrane, yet still obtain nutrients from the prey cytoplasm. Deleting two further genes encoding DacB/PBP4 family proteins, known to decrosslink and round prey peptidoglycan, results in a quadruple mutant Bdellovibrio which leaves prey-shaped ghosts upon predation. The resultant bacterial ghosts contain cytoplasmic membrane within bacteria-shaped peptidoglycan surrounded by outer membrane material which could have promise as "bacterial skeletons" for housing artificial chromosomes.

SUBMITTER: Lambert C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4876506 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Interrupting peptidoglycan deacetylation during Bdellovibrio predator-prey interaction prevents ultimate destruction of prey wall, liberating bacterial-ghosts.

Lambert Carey C Lerner Thomas R TR Bui Nhat Khai NK Somers Hannah H Aizawa Shin-Ichi S Liddell Susan S Clark Ana A Vollmer Waldemar W Lovering Andrew L AL Sockett R Elizabeth RE

Scientific reports 20160523

The peptidoglycan wall, located in the periplasm between the inner and outer membranes of the cell envelope in Gram-negative bacteria, maintains cell shape and endows osmotic robustness. Predatory Bdellovibrio bacteria invade the periplasm of other bacterial prey cells, usually crossing the peptidoglycan layer, forming transient structures called bdelloplasts within which the predators replicate. Prey peptidoglycan remains intact for several hours, but is modified and then degraded by escaping p ...[more]

PMID: 27211869

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Project description:Small mammal abundances are frequently limited by resource availability, but predators can exert strong lethal (mortality) and nonlethal (e.g., nest abandonment) limitations. Artificially increasing resource availability for uncommon small mammals provides a unique opportunity to examine predator-prey interactions. We used remote cameras to monitor 168 nest platforms placed in the live tree canopy (n = 23 young forest stands), primarily for arboreal red tree voles (tree voles; Arborimus longicaudus), over 3 years (n = 15,510 monitoring-weeks). Tree voles frequently built nests and were detected 37% of monitoring-weeks, whereas flying squirrels (Glaucomys oregonensis) built nests infrequently but were detected 45% of monitoring-weeks. Most nest predators were detected infrequently (<1% of monitoring-weeks) and were positively correlated with tree vole presence. Weasels (Mustela spp.) were highly effective predators of tree voles (n = 8 mortalities; 10% of detections) compared to owls (n = 1), flying squirrels (n = 2), and Steller's jays (n = 1). Tree vole activity decreased from 84.1 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 56.2, 111.9) detections/week 1-week prior to a weasel detection to 4.7 detections/week (95% CI: 1.7, 7.8) 1-week postdetection and remained low for at least 12 weeks. Interpretations of predator-prey interactions were highly sensitive to how we binned continuously collected data and model results from our finest bin width were biologically counter-intuitive. Average annual survival of female tree voles was consistent with a previous study (0.14; 95% CI: -0.04 [0.01], 0.32) and high compared to many terrestrial voles. The relative infrequency of weasel detections and inefficiency of other predators did not provide strong support for the hypothesis that predation per se limited populations. Rather, predation pressure, by reducing occupancy of already scarce nest sites through mortality and nest abandonment, may contribute to long-term local instability of tree vole populations in young forests. Additional monitoring would be needed to assess this hypothesis.

Project description:Predation risk is a strong driver of prey distribution and movement. However, fitness-influencing behaviours, such as mating, can alter risk and influence predator-prey space-use dynamics. In tree crickets, Oecanthus henryi, mate searching involves acoustic signalling by immobile males and phonotactic movement by females. Space-use patterns in tree crickets relative to their primary predators, green lynx spiders (Peucetia viridans), should therefore depend on their current mate-searching state; whether males are calling or non-calling and whether females are phonotactic or non-phonotactic. We first measured the degree of spatial anchoring of crickets to specific bushes in the field and determined whether that influenced the probability of broad-scale spatial overlap with spiders. In the absence of spiders, all crickets, independent of sex or male calling status, were found to be spatially anchored to specific types of bushes and not uniformly distributed on the landscape. At the broad spatial scale, spiders were more likely to be found on bushes with female crickets and, to a lesser degree, calling male crickets. At a finer spatial scale within a bush, movement strategies of crickets not only varied depending on the presence or absence of a spider, but also on their current mate-searching state. Phonotactic females showed clear predator avoidance, whereas calling and non-calling males moved towards the spider instead of away, similar to predator inspection behaviour seen in many taxa. As the strongly selected sex, males are more likely to undertake risky mate-searching activities, which includes inspection of predator positions. Overall, we found that all crickets were predictably anchored at the landscape scale, but their sex and mate-seeking behaviour influenced the degree of overlap with predators and their antipredator movement strategies. Reproductive strategies within a prey species, therefore, can alter predator-prey space race at multiple spatial scales.

Dataset Information

Interrupting peptidoglycan deacetylation during Bdellovibrio predator-prey interaction prevents ultimate destruction of prey wall, liberating bacterial-ghosts.

Publications

Interrupting peptidoglycan deacetylation during Bdellovibrio predator-prey interaction prevents ultimate destruction of prey wall, liberating bacterial-ghosts.

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