Oscillations in continuous culture populations of Streptococcus pneumoniae: population dynamics and the evolution of clonal suicide.

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
Omar E CornejoBruce R Levin

Abstract

Agents that kill or induce suicide in the organisms that produce them or other individuals of the same genotype are intriguing puzzles for ecologists and evolutionary biologists. When those organisms are pathogenic bacteria, these suicidal toxins have the added appeal as candidates for the development of narrow spectrum antibiotics to kill the pathogens that produce them.We show that when clinical as well as laboratory strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae are maintained in continuous culture (chemostats), their densities oscillate by as much as five orders of magnitude with an apparently constant period. This dynamic, which is unanticipated for single clones of bacteria in chemostats, can be attributed to population-wide die-offs and recoveries. Using a combination of mathematical models and experiments with S. pneumoniae, we present evidence that these die-offs can be attributed to the autocatalytic production of a toxin that lyses or induces autolysis in members of the clone that produces it. This toxin, which our evidence indicates is a protein, appears to be novel; S. pneumoniae genetic constructs knocked out for lytA and other genes coding for known candidates for this agent oscillate in chemostat culture. Since this toxin ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 5, 2010·Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology·Ernest Chi FruDavid W Graham
Nov 17, 2011·Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology·Irina Dana OfiţeruVasile Lavric
May 18, 2011·Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy·Fernando BaqueroFernando de la Cruz
Nov 19, 2013·PLoS Pathogens·Daniel J P EngelmoerDaniel E Rozen
Jul 30, 2014·Frontiers in Microbiology·Robert M Sinclair
Feb 4, 2014·Journal of Bacteriology·Joshua Chang Mell, Rosemary J Redfield
Sep 14, 2010·Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology·Alan T Bull
Mar 5, 2016·PLoS Biology·Nicholas J CroucherChristophe Fraser
Feb 23, 2020·Scientific Reports·Rasmus Skytte EriksenKim Sneppen
Apr 18, 2018·Nature Ecology & Evolution·Christoph RatzkeJeff Gore

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