scholarly journals A high content microscopy screening identifies genes involved in cell width control in Bacillus subtilis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitri Juillot ◽  
Charlene Cornilleau ◽  
Nathalie Deboosere ◽  
Cyrille Billaudeau ◽  
Parfait Evouna-Mengue ◽  
...  

How cells control their size is a fundamental question of biology. In bacteria, cell shape is imposed by the extracellular cell wall, in particular by the continuous polymer of peptidoglycan (PG) that surrounds the cell. Thus, bacterial cell morphogenesis results from the coordinated action of the proteins assembling and degrading the PG shell. Remarkably, during steady-state growth, most bacteria maintain a defined shape along generations, suggesting that an error-proof mechanism tightly controls the process. In the rod-shaped model for Gram-positive bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, it is well known that the average cell length varies as a function of growth rate but that cell diameter remains constant throughout its cell cycle and across growth conditions. Here, in an attempt to shed light on the cellular circuits controlling bacterial cell width, we developed a screen to identify genetic determinants of cell width in B. subtilis. Using HCS (high-content screening) fluorescence microscopy and semi-automated measurement of single-cell dimensions, we screened a library of ~ 4000 single knockout mutants. We identified 12 mutations significantly altering cell diameter, in genes that belong to several functional groups. In particular, these results highlight a link between cell width control and metabolism.

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (52) ◽  
pp. 15000-15005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai Zheng ◽  
Po-Yi Ho ◽  
Meiling Jiang ◽  
Bin Tang ◽  
Weirong Liu ◽  
...  

Bacteria tightly regulate and coordinate the various events in their cell cycles to duplicate themselves accurately and to control their cell sizes. Growth ofEscherichia coli, in particular, follows a relation known as Schaechter’s growth law. This law says that the average cell volume scales exponentially with growth rate, with a scaling exponent equal to the time from initiation of a round of DNA replication to the cell division at which the corresponding sister chromosomes segregate. Here, we sought to test the robustness of the growth law to systematic perturbations in cell dimensions achieved by varying the expression levels ofmreBandftsZ. We found that decreasing themreBlevel resulted in increased cell width, with little change in cell length, whereas decreasing theftsZlevel resulted in increased cell length. Furthermore, the time from replication termination to cell division increased with the perturbed dimension in both cases. Moreover, the growth law remained valid over a range of growth conditions and dimension perturbations. The growth law can be quantitatively interpreted as a consequence of a tight coupling of cell division to replication initiation. Thus, its robustness to perturbations in cell dimensions strongly supports models in which the timing of replication initiation governs that of cell division, and cell volume is the key phenomenological variable governing the timing of replication initiation. These conclusions are discussed in the context of our recently proposed “adder-per-origin” model, in which cells add a constant volume per origin between initiations and divide a constant time after initiation.


Microbiology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 155 (11) ◽  
pp. 3611-3621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Schirner ◽  
Jeff Errington

The prokaryotic cytoskeletal protein MreB is thought to govern cell shape by positioning the cell wall synthetic apparatus at growth sites in the cell. In rod-shaped bacteria it forms helical filaments that run around the periphery of the rod during elongation. Gram-positive bacteria often contain more than one mreB gene. Bacillus subtilis has three mreB-like genes, mreB, mbl and mreBH, the first two of which have been shown to be essential under normal growth conditions. Expression of an mreB homologue from the closely related organism Bacillus licheniformis did not have any effect on cell growth or morphology. In contrast, expression of mreB from the phylogenetically more distant bacterium Clostridium perfringens produced shape defects and ultimately cell death, due to disruption of the endogenous MreB cytoskeleton. However, expression of either mreBB. licheniformis (mreBBl ) or mreBC. perfringens (mreBCp ) was sufficient to confer a rod shape to B. subtilis deleted for the three mreB isologues, supporting the idea that the three proteins have largely redundant functions in cell morphogenesis. Expression of mreBCDBl could fully compensate for the loss of mreBCD in B. subtilis and led to the formation of rod-shaped cells. In contrast, expression of mreBCDCp was not sufficient to confer a rod shape to B. subtilis ΔmreBCD, indicating that a complex of these three cell shape determinants is not enough for cell morphogenesis of B. subtilis.


2013 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 386-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edyta M Grzelak ◽  
Barbara Majer-Dziedzic ◽  
Irena M Choma ◽  
Karol M Pilorz

Abstract A TLC-direct bioautography (DB) assay using Bacillus subtilis as test bacteria was developed. Various factors affecting the microorganism's viability on the TLC plates were studied and verified for the flumequine standards. The Dhenasar's method called "direct sample determination" was used for TLC; the antibiotic samples were spotted on the TLC plates and subjected to bioautography without developing with a mobile phase. The best preincubation and incubation times of bacterial broth were found to be 1 h at 37°C and 6 h at 37°C. The optimal viscosity of broth was obtained by the addition of agarose to obtain a 0.05% solution in the Mueller-Hinton broth. The best incubation time of seeded TLC plates was 17 h at 37°C. The plates were visualized by spraying with 0.2% aqueous 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide solution and incubated again for 0.5 h at 37°C. The method was validated by determination of linearity, interday and intraday precision, LOD, and LOQ. The calibration curves showed good linearity in the range 0.005–0.5 μg (0.5–50.0 μg/mL). The regression coefficients were 0.9970 and 0.9955 for intraday and interday plots, respectively. The LOD of flumequine equalled 0.5 μg/mL, i. e., 5 ng of the antibiotic in the spot. The sensitivity of the developed TLC-DB test was compared with that of the two most commonly used standard antimicrobial susceptibility assays: agar disc diffusion and agar cylinder diffusion. The obtained minimum inhibitory concentration values clearly indicate much higher sensitivity of the TLC-DB method compared to the standard antimicrobial susceptibility assays.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 665-679
Author(s):  
Alok K. Srivastava ◽  
Lokesh K. Pandey

Background: [1, 3, 4]oxadiazolenone core containing chalcones and nucleosides were synthesized by Claisen-Schmidt condensation of a variety of benzaldehyde derivatives, obtained from oxidation of substituted 5-(3/6 substituted-4-Methylphenyl)-1, 3, 4-oxadiazole-2(3H)-one and various substituted acetophenone. The resultant chalcones were coupled with penta-O-acetylglucopyranose followed by deacetylation to get [1, 3, 4] oxadiazolenone core containing chalcones and nucleosides. Various analytical techniques viz IR, NMR, LC-MS and elemental analysis were used to confirm the structure of the synthesised compounds.The compounds were targeted against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli for antibacterial activity and Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum for antifungal activity. Methods: A mixture of Acid hydrazides (3.0 mmol) and N, Nʹ- carbonyl diimidazole (3.3 mmol) in 15 mL of dioxane was refluxed to afford substituted [1, 3, 4]-oxadiazole-2(3H)-one. The resulted [1, 3, 4]- oxadiazole-2(3H)-one (1.42 mmol) was oxidized with Chromyl chloride (1.5 mL) in 20 mL of carbon tetra chloride and condensed with acetophenones (1.42 mmol) to get chalcones 4. The equimolar ratio of obtained chalcones 4 and β -D-1,2,3,4,6- penta-O-acetylglucopyranose in presence of iodine was refluxed to get nucleosides 5. The [1, 3, 4] oxadiazolenone core containing chalcones 4 and nucleosides 5 were tested to determined minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value with the experimental procedure of Benson using disc-diffusion method. All compounds were tested at concentration of 5 mg/mL, 2.5 mg/mL, 1.25 mg/mL, 0.62 mg/mL, 0.31 mg/mL and 0.15 mg/mL for antifungal activity against three strains of pathogenic fungi Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus), Aspergillus niger (A. niger) and Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum) and for antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacterium: Escherichia coli (E. coli), and two Gram-positive bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Bacillus subtilis(B. subtilis). Result: The chalcones 4 and nucleosides 5 were screened for antibacterial activity against E. coli, S. aureus and B. subtilis whereas antifungal activity against A. flavus, A. niger and F. oxysporum. Compounds 4a-t showed good antibacterial activity whereas compounds 5a-t containing glucose moiety showed better activity against fungi. The glucose moiety of compounds 5 helps to enter into the cell wall of fungi and control the cell growth. Conclusion: Chalcones 4 and nucleosides 5 incorporating [1, 3, 4] oxadiazolenone core were synthesized and characterized by various spectral techniques and elemental analysis. These compounds were evaluated for their antifungal activity against three fungi; viz. A. flavus, A. niger and F. oxysporum. In addition to this, synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial activity against gram negative bacteria E. Coli and gram positive bacteria S. aureus, B. subtilis. Compounds 4a-t showed good antibacterial activity whereas 5a-t showed better activity against fungi.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Ozioma F. Nwabor ◽  
Sukanlaya Leejae ◽  
Supayang P. Voravuthikunchai

As the burden of antibacterial resistance worsens and treatment options become narrower, rhodomyrtone—a novel natural antibiotic agent with a new antibacterial mechanism—could replace existing antibiotics for the treatment of infections caused by multi-drug resistant Gram-positive bacteria. In this study, rhodomyrtone was detected within the cell by means of an easy an inexpensive method. The antibacterial effects of rhodomyrtone were investigated on epidemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Thin-layer chromatography demonstrated the entrapment and accumulation of rhodomyrtone within the bacterial cell wall and cell membrane. The incorporation of radiolabelled precursors revealed that rhodomyrtone inhibited the synthesis of macromolecules including DNA, RNA, proteins, the cell wall, and lipids. Following the treatment with rhodomyrtone at MIC (0.5–1 µg/mL), the synthesis of all macromolecules was significantly inhibited (p ≤ 0.05) after 4 h. Inhibition of macromolecule synthesis was demonstrated after 30 min at a higher concentration of rhodomyrtone (4× MIC), comparable to standard inhibitor compounds. In contrast, rhodomyrtone did not affect lipase activity in staphylococci—both epidemic methicillin-resistant S. aureus and S. aureus ATCC 29213. Interfering with the synthesis of multiple macromolecules is thought to be one of the antibacterial mechanisms of rhodomyrtone.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3084
Author(s):  
Hao Jing ◽  
Zhao Liu ◽  
Seng How Kuan ◽  
Sylvia Chieng ◽  
Chun Loong Ho

Recently, microbial-based iron reduction has been considered as a viable alternative to typical chemical-based treatments. The iron reduction is an important process in kaolin refining, where iron-bearing impurities in kaolin clay affects the whiteness, refractory properties, and its commercial value. In recent years, Gram-negative bacteria has been in the center stage of iron reduction research, whereas little is known about the potential use of Gram-positive bacteria to refine kaolin clay. In this study, we investigated the ferric reducing capabilities of five microbes by manipulating the microbial growth conditions. Out of the five, we discovered that Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus outperformed the other microbes under nitrogen-rich media. Through the biochemical changes and the microbial behavior, we mapped the hypothetical pathway leading to the iron reduction cellular properties, and found that the iron reduction properties of these Gram-positive bacteria rely heavily on the media composition. The media composition results in increased basification of the media that is a prerequisite for the cellular reduction of ferric ions. Further, these changes impact the formation of biofilm, suggesting that the cellular interaction for the iron(III)oxide reduction is not solely reliant on the formation of biofilms. This article reveals the potential development of Gram-positive microbes in facilitating the microbial-based removal of metal contaminants from clays or ores. Further studies to elucidate the corresponding pathways would be crucial for the further development of the field.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (10) ◽  
pp. 3384-3390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Mijakovic ◽  
Lucia Musumeci ◽  
Lutz Tautz ◽  
Dina Petranovic ◽  
Robert A. Edwards ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria possess protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) with a catalytic Cys residue. In addition, many gram-positive bacteria have acquired a new family of PTPs, whose first characterized member was CpsB from Streptococcus pneumoniae. Bacillus subtilis contains one such CpsB-like PTP, YwqE, in addition to two class II Cys-based PTPs, YwlE and YfkJ. The substrates for both YwlE and YfkJ are presently unknown, while YwqE was shown to dephosphorylate two phosphotyrosine-containing proteins implicated in UDP-glucuronate biosynthesis, YwqD and YwqF. In this study, we characterize YwqE, compare the activities of the three B. subtilis PTPs (YwqE, YwlE, and YfkJ), and demonstrate that the two B. subtilis class II PTPs do not dephosphorylate the physiological substrates of YwqE.


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