Journal
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 78, Issue 9, Pages 3369-3378Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/AEM.07743-11
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Funding
- NSF
- NIH [DP2OD007488]
- Stanford University
- Stanford Terman fellowship
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Escherichia coli directs the assembly of functional amyloid fibers termed curli that mediate adhesion and biofilm formation. We discovered that E. coli exhibits a tunable and selective increase in curli protein expression and fiber assembly in response to moderate concentrations of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ethanol. Furthermore, the molecular alterations resulted in dramatic functional phenotypes associated with community behavior, including (i) cellular agglutination in broth, (ii) altered colony morphology, and (iii) increased biofilm formation. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of intact pellicles formed in the presence of [C-13(2)] DMSO confirmed that DMSO was not being transformed and utilized directly for metabolism. Collectively, the chemically induced phenotypes emphasize the plasticity of E. coli's response to environmental stimuli to enhance amyloid production and amyloid-integrated biofilm formation. The data also support our developing model of the extracellular matrix as an organized assembly of polymeric components, including amyloid fibers, in which composition relates to bacterial physiology and community function.
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