Transition of a solitary to a biofilm community life style in bacteria: a survival strategy with division of labour.

Multicellularity is associated with higher eukaryotes having an organized division of labour and a coordinated action of different organs composed of multiple cell types. This division of different cell types and organizations to form a multicellular structure by developmental programming is a key to the multitasking of complex traits that enable higher eukaryotes to cope with fluctuating environmental conditions. Microbes such as bacteria, on the other hand, are unicellular and have flourished in diverse environmental conditions for a much longer time than eukaryotes in evolutionary history. In this review, we will focus on different strategies and functions exhibited by microbes that enable them to adapt to changes in lifestyle associated with transitioning from a unicellular solitary state to a complex community architecture known as a biofilm. We will also discuss various environmental stimuli and signaling processes which bacteria utilize to coordinate their social traits and enable themselves to form complex multicellular-like biofilm structures, and the division of labour operative within such communities driving their diverse social traits. We will also discuss here recent studies from our laboratory using a plant-associated bacterial pathogen as a model organism to elucidate the mechanism of bacterial cell-cell communication and the transition of a bacterial community to a multicellular-like structure driven by the complex regulation of traits influenced by cell density, as well as environmental sensing such as chemotaxis and nutrient availability. These studies are shedding important insights into bacterial developmental transitions and will help us to understand community cooperation and conflict using bacterial cell-cell communication as a model system.

Reversible non-genetic phenotypic heterogeneity in bacterial quorum sensing.

Bacteria co-ordinate their social behaviour in a density-dependent manner by production of diffusible signal molecules by a process known as quorum sensing (QS). It is generally assumed that in homogenous environments and at high cell density, QS synchronizes cells in the population to perform collective social tasks in unison which maximize the benefit at the inclusive fitness of individuals. However, evolutionary theory predicts that maintaining phenotypic heterogeneity in performing social tasks is advantageous as it can serve as a bet-hedging survival strategy. Using Pseudomonas syringae and Xanthomonas campestris as model organisms, which use two diverse classes of QS signals, we show that two distinct subpopulations of QS-responsive and non-responsive cells exist in the QS-activated population. Addition of excess exogenous QS signal does not significantly alter the distribution of QS-responsive and non-responsive cells in the population. We further show that progeny of cells derived from these subpopulations also exhibited heterogeneous distribution patterns similar to their respective parental strains. Overall, these results support the model that bacteria maintain QS-responsive and non-responsive subpopulations at high cell densities in a bet-hedging strategy to simultaneously perform functions that are both positively and negatively regulated by QS to improve their fitness in fluctuating environments.

XadM, a novel adhesin of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, exhibits similarity to Rhs family proteins and is required for optimum attachment, biofilm formation, and virulence.

By screening a transposon-induced mutant library of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, the bacterial blight pathogen of rice, we have identified a novel 5.241-kb open reading frame (ORF) named xadM that is required for optimum virulence and colonization. This ORF encodes a protein, XadM, of 1,746 amino acids that exhibits significant similarity to Rhs family proteins. The XadM protein contains several repeat domains similar to a wall-associated surface protein of Bacillus subtilis, which has been proposed to be involved in carbohydrate binding. The role of XadM in X. oryzae pv. oryzae adhesion was demonstrated by the impaired ability of an xadM mutant strain to attach and form biofilms. Furthermore, we show that XadM is exposed on the cell surface and its expression is regulated by growth conditions and plays an important role in the early attachment and entry inside rice leaves. Interestingly, XadM homologs are present in several diverse bacteria, including many Xanthomonas spp. and animal-pathogenic bacteria belonging to Burkholderia spp. This is the first report of a role for XadM, an Rhs family protein, in adhesion and virulence of any pathogenic bacteria.

Atypical regulation of virulence-associated functions by a diffusible signal factor in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.

In Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, the bacterial blight pathogen of rice, a secreted fatty acid signaling molecule known as diffusible signal factor (DSF) is required for virulence and growth on low-iron medium. To identify other virulence-associated traits that are regulated by DSF in this pathogen, we have performed microarray analysis of transcriptional changes between the wild type and DSF-deficient mutants of X. oryzae pv. oryzae. Expression of genes that encode secreted hydrolytic enzymes, motility, and chemotaxis functions are negatively regulated by DSF while functions involved in adhesion and biofilm formation are positively regulated. Enzymatic assays for hydrolytic enzymes as well as assays for chemotaxis, motility, attachment, and biofilm formation corroborate these findings. These results demonstrate that, in X. oryzae pv. oryzae, DSF-mediated cell-to-cell signaling coordinates transition from solitary to biofilm lifestyle by promoting expression of attachment functions and negatively regulating expression of motility functions. This is in contrast to X. campestris pv. campestris, a pathogen of crucifers, wherein the DSF system positively regulates motility functions and negatively regulates biofilm formation. These results indicate that virulence-associated functions can be regulated in a completely contrasting fashion by the same signaling system in very closely related bacteria.