To hunt or to rest: prey depletion induces a novel starvation survival strategy in bacterial predators.

ABSTRACT: The small size of bacterial cells necessitates rapid adaption to sudden environmental changes. In Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus, an obligate predator of bacteria common in oligotrophic environments, the non-replicative, highly motile attack phase (AP) cell must invade a prey to ensure replication. AP cells swim fast and respire at high rates, rapidly consuming their own contents. How the predator survives in the absence of prey is unknown. We show that starvation for prey significantly alters swimming patterns and causes exponential decay in prey-searching cells over hours, until population-wide swim-arrest. Swim-arrest is accompanied by changes in energy metabolism, enabling rapid swim-reactivation upon introduction of prey or nutrients, and a sweeping change in gene expression and gene regu

SUBMITTER: Sathyamoorthy R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7852544 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature