Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 284, Issue 1858, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0631
Keywords
bacterial social interactions; siderophores; molecule diffusion; single-cell behaviour; Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Categories
Funding
- DAAD
- SNSF [PP00P3_165835]
- ERC [681295]
- European Research Council (ERC) [681295] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [PP00P3_165835] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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Bacteria secrete a variety of compounds important for nutrient scavenging, competition mediation and infection establishment. While there is a general consensus that secreted compounds can be shared and therefore have social consequences for the bacterial collective, we know little about the physical limits of such bacterial social interactions. Here, we address this issue by studying the sharing of iron-scavenging siderophores between surfaceattached microcolonies of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using single-cell fluorescence microscopy, we show that siderophores, secreted by producers, quickly reach non-producers within a range of 100 mm, and significantly boost their fitness. Producers in turn respond to variation in sharing efficiency by adjusting their pyoverdine investment levels. These social effects wane with larger cell-to-cell distances and on hard surfaces. Thus, our findings reveal the boundaries of compound sharing, and show that sharing is particularly relevant between nearby yet physically separated bacteria on soft surfaces, matching realistic natural conditions such as those encountered in soft tissue infections.
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