scholarly journals Dynamic switching enables efficient bacterial colonization in flow

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (21) ◽  
pp. 5438-5443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anerudh Kannan ◽  
Zhenbin Yang ◽  
Minyoung Kevin Kim ◽  
Howard A. Stone ◽  
Albert Siryaporn

Bacteria colonize environments that contain networks of moving fluids, including digestive pathways, blood vasculature in animals, and the xylem and phloem networks in plants. In these flow networks, bacteria form distinct biofilm structures that have an important role in pathogenesis. The physical mechanisms that determine the spatial organization of bacteria in flow are not understood. Here, we show that the bacteriumP. aeruginosacolonizes flow networks using a cyclical process that consists of surface attachment, upstream movement, detachment, movement with the bulk flow, and surface reattachment. This process, which we have termed dynamic switching, distributes bacterial subpopulations upstream and downstream in flow through two phases: movement on surfaces and cellular movement via the bulk. The model equations that describe dynamic switching are identical to those that describe dynamic instability, a process that enables microtubules in eukaryotic cells to search space efficiently to capture chromosomes. Our results show that dynamic switching enables bacteria to explore flow networks efficiently, which maximizes dispersal and colonization and establishes the organizational structure of biofilms. A number of eukaryotic and mammalian cells also exhibit movement in two phases in flow, which suggests that dynamic switching is a modality that enables efficient dispersal for a broad range of cell types.

Author(s):  
K. Shankar Narayan ◽  
Kailash C. Gupta ◽  
Tohru Okigaki

The biological effects of short-wave ultraviolet light has generally been described in terms of changes in cell growth or survival rates and production of chromosomal aberrations. Ultrastructural changes following exposure of cells to ultraviolet light, particularly at 265 nm, have not been reported.We have developed a means of irradiating populations of cells grown in vitro to a monochromatic ultraviolet laser beam at a wavelength of 265 nm based on the method of Johnson. The cell types studies were: i) WI-38, a human diploid fibroblast; ii) CMP, a human adenocarcinoma cell line; and iii) Don C-II, a Chinese hamster fibroblast cell strain. The cells were exposed either in situ or in suspension to the ultraviolet laser (UVL) beam. Irradiated cell populations were studied either "immediately" or following growth for 1-8 days after irradiation.Differential sensitivity, as measured by survival rates were observed in the three cell types studied. Pattern of ultrastructural changes were also different in the three cell types.


2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2657-2671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean M. Wilson ◽  
Meltsje de Hoop ◽  
Natasha Zorzi ◽  
Ban-Hock Toh ◽  
Carlos G. Dotti ◽  
...  

EEA1 is an early endosomal Rab5 effector protein that has been implicated in the docking of incoming endocytic vesicles before fusion with early endosomes. Because of the presence of complex endosomal pathways in polarized and nonpolarized cells, we have examined the distribution of EEA1 in diverse cell types. Ultrastructural analysis demonstrates that EEA1 is present on a subdomain of the early sorting endosome but not on clathrin-coated vesicles, consistent with a role in providing directionality to early endosomal fusion. Furthermore, EEA1 is associated with filamentous material that extends from the cytoplasmic surface of the endosomal domain, which is also consistent with a tethering/docking role for EEA1. In polarized cells (Madin-Darby canine kidney cells and hippocampal neurons), EEA1 is present on a subset of “basolateral-type” endosomal compartments, suggesting that EEA1 regulates specific endocytic pathways. In both epithelial cells and fibroblastic cells, EEA1 and a transfected apical endosomal marker, endotubin, label distinct endosomal populations. Hence, there are at least two distinct sets of early endosomes in polarized and nonpolarized mammalian cells. EEA1 could provide specificity and directionality to fusion events occurring in a subset of these endosomes in polarized and nonpolarized cells.


1998 ◽  
Vol 334 (3) ◽  
pp. 511-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bellinda A. BLADERGROEN ◽  
Math J. H. GEELEN ◽  
A. Ch. Pulla REDDY ◽  
Peter E. DECLERCQ ◽  
Lambert M. G. VAN GOLDE

Previous studies with electropermeabilized cells have suggested the occurrence of metabolic compartmentation and Ca2+-dependent channeling of intermediates of phosphatidylcholine (PC) biosynthesis in C6 rat glioma cells. With a more accessible permeabilization technique, we investigated whether this is a more general phenomenon also occurring in other cell types and whether channeling is involved in phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) synthesis as well. C6 rat glioma cells, C3H10T½ fibroblasts and rat hepatocytes were permeabilized with Staphylococcus aureus α-toxin, and the incorporation of the radiolabelled precursors choline, phosphocholine (P-choline), ethanolamine and phosphoethanolamine (P-EA) into PC and PE were measured both at high and low Ca2+ concentrations. In glioma cells, permeabilization at high Ca2+ concentration did not affect [14C]choline or [14C]P-choline incorporation into PC. However, reduction of free Ca2+ in the medium from 1.8 mM to < 1 nM resulted in a dramatic increase in [14C]P-choline incorporation into permeabilized cells, whereas [14C]choline incorporation remained unaffected. Also, in fibroblasts, reduction of extracellular Ca2+ increased [14C]P-choline and [14C]P-EA incorporation into PC and PE respectively. In hepatocytes, a combination of α-toxin and low Ca2+ concentration severely impaired [14C]choline incorporation into PC. Therefore, α-toxin-permeabilized hepatocytes are not a good model in which to study channeling of intermediates in PC biosynthesis. In conclusion, our results indicate that channeling is involved in PC synthesis in glioma cells and fibroblasts. PE synthesis in fibroblasts is also at least partly dependent on channeling.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Vaughan ◽  
Keith Gull

Undoubtedly, there are fundamental processes driving the structural mechanics of cell division in eukaryotic organisms that have been conserved throughout evolution and are being revealed by studies on organisms such as yeast and mammalian cells. Precision of structural mechanics of cytokinesis is however probably no better illustrated than in the protozoa. A dramatic example of this is the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei, a unicellular flagellated parasite that causes a devastating disease (African sleeping sickness) across Sub-Saharan Africa in both man and animals. As trypanosomes migrate between and within a mammalian host and the tsetse vector, there are periods of cell proliferation and cell differentiation involving at least five morphologically distinct cell types. Much of the existing cytoskeleton remains intact during these processes, necessitating a very precise temporal and spatial duplication and segregation of the many single-copy organelles. This structural precision is aiding progress in understanding these processes as we apply the excellent reverse genetics and post-genomic technologies available in this system. Here we outline our current understanding of some of the structural aspects of cell division in this fascinating organism.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surendra Singh Patel ◽  
Sanyami Zunjarrao ◽  
Beena Pillai

AbstractEisenia fetida, the common vermicomposting earthworm, shows robust regeneration of posterior segments removed by amputation. During the period of regeneration, the newly formed tissue initially contains only undifferentiated cells but subsequently differentiates into a variety of cell types including muscle, nerve and vasculature. Transcriptomics analysis, reported previously, provided a number of candidate non-coding RNAs that were induced during regeneration. We found that one such long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is expressed in the skin, only at the base of newly formed chaetae. The spatial organization and precise arrangement of the regenerating chaetae and the cells expressing the lncRNA on the ventral side clearly support a model wherein the regenerating tissue contains a zone of growth and cell division at the tip and a zone of differentiation at the site of amputation. The temporal expression pattern of the lncRNA, christened Neev, closely resembled the pattern of chitin synthase genes, implicated in chaetae formation. We found that the lncRNA harbours 49 sites for binding a set of four miRNAs while the Chitin Synthase 8 mRNA comprises 478 sites. The over-representation of shared miRNA sites suggests that lncRNA Neev may act as a miRNA sponge to transiently de-repress chitin synthase 8 during formation of new chaetae in the regenerating segments of Eisenia fetida.Summary statementThe earthworm, Eisenia fetida, regenerates posterior segments following amputation. The transcriptome of the regenerating worm revealed a novel lncRNA, expressed only at the base of regenerating chaetae. We propose that this lncRNA is a miRNA sponge that modulates chitin synthesis.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene de Cesare ◽  
Criseida G. Zamora-Chimal ◽  
Lorena Postiglione ◽  
Mahmoud Khazim ◽  
Elisa Pedone ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTExtracting quantitative measurements from time-lapse images is necessary in external feedback control applications, where segmentation results are used to inform control algorithms. While such image segmentation applications have been previously reported, there is in the literature a lack of open-source and documented code for the community. We describe ChipSeg, a computational tool to segment bacterial and mammalian cells cultured in microfluidic devices and imaged by time-lapse microscopy. The method is based on thresholding and uses the same core functions for both cell types. It allows to segment individual cells in high cell-density microfluidic devices, to quantify fluorescence protein expression over a time-lapse experiment and to track individual cells. ChipSeg enables robust segmentation in external feedback control experiments and can be easily customised for other experimental settings and research aims.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ameya P. Jalihal ◽  
Sethuramasundaram Pitchiaya ◽  
Lanbo Xiao ◽  
Pushpinder Bawa ◽  
Xia Jiang ◽  
...  

SUMMARYProcessing bodies (PBs) and stress granules (SGs) are prominent examples of sub-cellular, membrane-less compartments that are observed under physiological and stress conditions, respectively. We observe that the trimeric PB protein DCP1A rapidly (within ∼10 s) phase-separates in mammalian cells during hyperosmotic stress and dissolves upon isosmotic rescue (over ∼100 s) with minimal impact on cell viability even after multiple cycles of osmotic perturbation. Strikingly, this rapid intracellular hyperosmotic phase separation (HOPS) correlates with the degree of cell volume compression, distinct from SG assembly, and is exhibited broadly by homo-multimeric (valency ≥ 2) proteins across several cell types. Notably, HOPS sequesters pre-mRNA cleavage factor components from actively transcribing genomic loci, providing a mechanism for hyperosmolarity-induced global impairment of transcription termination. Together, our data suggest that the multimeric proteome rapidly responds to changes in hydration and molecular crowding, revealing an unexpected mode of globally programmed phase separation and sequestration that adapts the cell to volume change.GRAPHICAL ABSTRACTIN BRIEFCells constantly experience osmotic variation. These external changes lead to changes in cell volume, and consequently the internal state of molecular crowding. Here, Jalihal and Pitchiaya et al. show that multimeric proteins respond rapidly to such cellular changes by undergoing rapid and reversible phase separation.HIGHLIGHTSDCP1A undergoes rapid and reversible hyperosmotic phase separation (HOPS)HOPS of DCP1A depends on its trimerization domainSelf-interacting multivalent proteins (valency ≥ 2) undergo HOPSHOPS of CPSF6 explains transcription termination defects during osmotic stress


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgeny Zatulovskiy ◽  
Daniel F. Berenson ◽  
Benjamin R. Topacio ◽  
Jan M. Skotheim

Cell size is fundamental to function in different cell types across the human body because it sets the scale of organelle structures, biosynthesis, and surface transport1,2. Tiny erythrocytes squeeze through capillaries to transport oxygen, while the million-fold larger oocyte divides without growth to form the ~100 cell pre-implantation embryo. Despite the vast size range across cell types, cells of a given type are typically uniform in size likely because cells are able to accurately couple cell growth to division3–6. While some genes whose disruption in mammalian cells affects cell size have been identified, the molecular mechanisms through which cell growth drives cell division have remained elusive7–12. Here, we show that cell growth acts to dilute the cell cycle inhibitor Rb to drive cell cycle progression from G1 to S phase in human cells. In contrast, other G1/S regulators remained at nearly constant concentration. Rb is a stable protein that is synthesized during S and G2 phases in an amount that is independent of cell size. Equal partitioning to daughter cells of chromatin bound Rb then ensures that all cells at birth inherit a similar amount of Rb protein. RB overexpression increased cell size in tissue culture and a mouse cancer model, while RB deletion decreased cell size and removed the inverse correlation between cell size at birth and the duration of G1 phase. Thus, Rb-dilution by cell growth in G1 provides a long-sought cell autonomous molecular mechanism for cell size homeostasis.


2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1402-1414 ◽  
Author(s):  
René E. M. A. van Herpen ◽  
Ralph J. A. Oude Ophuis ◽  
Mietske Wijers ◽  
Miranda B. Bennink ◽  
Fons A. J. van de Loo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Myotonic dystrophy protein kinase (DMPK) is a Ser/Thr-type protein kinase with unknown function, originally identified as the product of the gene that is mutated by triplet repeat expansion in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). Alternative splicing of DMPK transcripts results in multiple protein isoforms carrying distinct C termini. Here, we demonstrate by expressing individual DMPKs in various cell types, including C2C12 and DMPK −/− myoblast cells, that unique sequence arrangements in these tails control the specificity of anchoring into intracellular membranes. Mouse DMPK A and C were found to associate specifically with either the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) or the mitochondrial outer membrane, whereas the corresponding human DMPK A and C proteins both localized to mitochondria. Expression of mouse and human DMPK A—but not C—isoforms in mammalian cells caused clustering of ER or mitochondria. Membrane association of DMPK isoforms was resistant to alkaline conditions, and mutagenesis analysis showed that proper anchoring was differentially dependent on basic residues flanking putative transmembrane domains, demonstrating that DMPK tails form unique tail anchors. This work identifies DMPK as the first kinase in the class of tail-anchored proteins, with a possible role in organelle distribution and dynamics.


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