Early Developmental Program Shapes Colony Morphology in Bacteria

Cell Reports
Gideon MamouSigal Ben-Yehuda

Abstract

When grown on a solid surface, bacteria form highly organized colonies, yet little is known about the earliest stages of colony establishment. Following Bacillus subtilis colony development from a single progenitor cell, a sequence of highly ordered spatiotemporal events was revealed. Colony was initiated by the formation of leading-cell chains, deriving from the colony center and extending in multiple directions, typically in a "Y-shaped" structure. By eradicating particular cells during these early stages, we could influence the shape of the resulting colony and demonstrate that Y-arm extension defines colony size. A mutant in ymdB encoding a phosphodiesterase displayed unordered developmental patterns, indicating a role in guiding these initial events. Finally, we provide evidence that intercellular nanotubes contribute to proper colony formation. In summary, we reveal a "construction plan" for building a colony and provide the initial molecular basis for this process.

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Citations

Feb 26, 2016·Developmental Cell·Gyanendra P DubeySigal Ben-Yehuda
Sep 16, 2018·Molecular Microbiology·Margarita KalamaraNicola R Stanley-Wall
May 28, 2019·Nature Communications·Yusuf Ilker YamanAskin Kocabas
Jun 28, 2018·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Xiaoniu Yu, Jianguo Jiang
Mar 25, 2019·Nature Physics·Farzan BerozYigal Meir
Oct 2, 2020·World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology·Juanmei ZhangGang Wang
Jan 4, 2017·Communicative & Integrative Biology·Jaroslav ČeplAnton Markoš
Aug 23, 2017·Nature Communications·Ofer StemplerSigal Ben-Yehuda
Oct 4, 2020·Nature Communications·Jiří PospíšilLibor Krásný
Jun 15, 2021·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Zhou XuMaria M Santore
Jan 29, 2020·Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety·Xiaoniu Yu, Jianguo Jiang
Dec 9, 2021·The EMBO Journal·Elhanan TzipilevichSigal Ben-Yehuda

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
ELISA
scanning electron microscopy
irradiating
fluorescence recovery after photobleaching
correlative microscopy

Software Mentioned

Zen

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