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Volume 157, Issue 9

Single-cell analysis in a swarming community identifies distinct spatially separated subpopulations differentially expressing (flagellin), including specialized swarmers Free

Abstract

The non-domesticated strain 3610 displays, over a wide range of humidity, hyper-branched, dendritic, swarming-like migration on a minimal agar medium. At high (70 %) humidity, the laboratory strain 168 (producing surfactin) behaves very similarly, although this strain carries a frameshift mutation in , which another group has shown under their conditions (which include low humidity) is essential for swarming. We reconcile these different results by demonstrating that, while is essential for dendritic migration at low humidity (30–40 %), it is dispensable at high humidity. Dendritic migration (flagella- and surfactin-dependent) of strains 168 and 3610 involves elongation of dendrites for several hours as a monolayer of cells in a thin fluid film. This enabled us to determine the spatiotemporal pattern of expression of some key players in migration as dendrites develop, using transcriptional fusions for (encoding flagellin), (regulation of surfactin synthesis) as well as (exopolysaccharide synthesis). Quantitative (single-cell) analysis of expression revealed three spatially separated subpopulations or cell types: (i) networks of chains arising early in the mother colony (MC), expressing but not ; (ii) largely immobile cells in dendrite stems expressing intermediate levels of ; and (iii) a subpopulation of cells with several distinctive features, including very low expression but hyper-expression of (and flagella). These specialized cells emerge from the MC to spearhead the terminal 1 mm of dendrite tips as swirling and streaming packs, a major characteristic of swarming migration. We discuss a model for this swarming process, emphasizing the importance of population density and of the complementary roles of packs of swarmers driving dendrite extension, while non-mobile cells in the stems extend dendrites by multiplication.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Revised:
  • Published Online:
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (Award ANR-05-blan-0138)
  • Université Paris-Sud
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
  • Fondation de la Recherche Médicale
  • Région Ile de France
  • CNRS (Award UPR 9073)
  • Université Paris-Diderot
© 2011 SGM
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2011-09-01
2024-04-18
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Single-cell analysis in situ in a Bacillus subtilis swarming community identifies distinct spatially separated subpopulations differentially expressing hag (flagellin), including specialized swarmers
Microbiology 157, 2456 (2011); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.047159-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.047159-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.047159-0
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