Journal
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 78, Issue 18, Pages 6540-6544Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01341-12
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- Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Universita e della Ricerca [2005058814]
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Multicellular communities produced by Bacillus subtilis can adopt sliding or swarming to translocate over surfaces. While sliding is a flagellum-independent motility produced by the expansive forces in a growing colony, swarming requires flagellar functionality and is characterized by the appearance of hyperflagellated swarm cells that associate in bundles or rafts during movement. Previous work has shown that swarming by undomesticated B. subtilis strains requires swrA, a gene that upregulates the expression of flagellar genes and increases swimming motility, and surfactin, a lipopeptide biosurfactant that also facilitates sliding. Through an analysis of swrA(+) and swrA mutant laboratory strains with or without a mutation in sfp (a gene involved in surfactin production), we show that both swrA and surfactin upregulate the transcription of the flagellin gene and increase bacterial swimming. Surfactin also allows the nonswarming swrA mutant strain to efficiently colonize moist surfaces by sliding. Finally, we reconfirm the essential role of swrA in swanning and show that surfactin, which increases surface wettability, allows swrA strains to produce swarm cells on media at low humidity.
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