Dataset Information

Can't you hear me knocking: contact-dependent competition and cooperation in bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Microorganisms are in constant competition for growth niches and environmental resources. In Gram-negative bacteria, contact-dependent growth inhibition (CDI) systems link the fate of one cell with its immediate neighbor through touch-dependent, receptor-mediated toxin delivery. Though discovered for their ability to confer a competitive growth advantage, CDI systems also play significant roles in inter-sibling cooperation, promoting both auto-aggregation and biofilm formation. In this review, we detail the mechanisms of CDI toxin delivery and consider how toxin exchange between isogenic sibling cells could regulate gene expression.

SUBMITTER: Jones AM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5659313 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Can't you hear me knocking: contact-dependent competition and cooperation in bacteria.

Jones Allison M AM Low David A DA Hayes Christopher S CS

Emerging topics in life sciences 20170421 1

Microorganisms are in constant competition for growth niches and environmental resources. In Gram-negative bacteria, contact-dependent growth inhibition (CDI) systems link the fate of one cell with its immediate neighbor through touch-dependent, receptor-mediated toxin delivery. Though discovered for their ability to confer a competitive growth advantage, CDI systems also play significant roles in inter-sibling cooperation, promoting both auto-aggregation and biofilm formation. In this review, w ...[more]

PMID: 29085916

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Project description:Burkholderia species, including opportunistic pathogens in the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc), have genes to produce contact-dependent growth inhibition (CDI) system proteins. CDI is a phenomenon in which Gram-negative bacteria use the toxic C terminus of a polymorphic surface-exposed exoprotein, BcpA, to inhibit the growth of susceptible bacteria upon direct cell-cell contact. Production of a small immunity protein, BcpI, prevents autoinhibition. Although CDI systems appear widespread in Gram-negative bacteria, their function has been primarily examined in several model species. Here we demonstrate that genes encoding predicted CDI systems in Bcc species exhibit considerable diversity. We also show that Burkholderia multivorans, which causes pulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrosis, expresses genes that encode two CDI systems, both of which appear distinct from the typical Burkholderia-type CDI system. Each system can mediate intrastrain interbacterial competition and contributes to bacterial adherence. Surprisingly, the immunity-protein-encoding bcpI gene of CDI system 1 could be mutated without obvious deleterious effects. We also show that nonpathogenic Burkholderia thailandensis uses CDI to control B. multivorans growth during coculture, providing one of the first examples of interspecies CDI and suggesting that CDI systems could be manipulated to develop therapeutic strategies targeting Bcc pathogens.IMPORTANCE Competition among bacteria affects microbial colonization of environmental niches and host organisms, particularly during polymicrobial infections. The Bcc is a group of environmental bacteria that can cause life-threatening opportunistic infections in patients who have cystic fibrosis or are immunocompromised. Understanding the mechanisms used by these bacterial pathogens to compete with one another may lead to the development of more effective therapies. Findings presented here demonstrate that a Bcc species, Burkholderia multivorans, produces functional CDI system proteins and that growth of this pathogen can be controlled by CDI system proteins produced by neighboring Burkholderia cells.

Dataset Information

Can't you hear me knocking: contact-dependent competition and cooperation in bacteria.

Publications

Can't you hear me knocking: contact-dependent competition and cooperation in bacteria.

Similar Datasets

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