Treponema Endosymbionts are the Dominant Bacterial Members with Ureolytic Potential in the Gut of the Wood-Feeding Termite, Reticulitermes Hesperus

Termites are remarkable for their ability to digest cellulose from wood as their main energy source, but the extremely low nitrogen (N) content of their diet presents a major challenge for N acquisition. Besides the activity of N 2 -fixing bacteria in the gut, the recycling of N from waste products by symbiotic microbes as a complementary N-provisioning mechanism in termites remains poorly understood. In this study, we used a combination of high-throughput amplicon sequencing, quantitative PCR, and cultivation to characterize the microbial community capable of degrading urea, a common waste product, into ammonia in the guts of termites ( Reticulitermes hesperus ) from a wild and laboratory-reared colony. Taxonomic analysis indicated that a majority of the urease ( ureC ) genes in the termite gut (53.0%) matched with a Treponema endosymbiont of gut protists previously found in several other termites, suggesting an important contribution to the nutrition of essential cellulolytic protists. Furthermore, analysis of both the 16S rRNA and ureC amplicons revealed that the laboratory colony had decreased diversity and altered community composition for both prokaryotic and ureolytic microbial communities in the termite gut. Estimation by quantitative PCR showed that microbial ureC genes decreased in abundance in the laboratory-reared colony compared to the wild colony. In addition, most of our cultivated isolates appeared to originate from non-gut environments. Together, our results underscore a more important role for ureolysis by endosymbionts within protists than by free-swimming bacteria in the gut lumen of R. hesperus .

Microbial Biofilm Infections in Tissue Implant: A Review

In implant and trauma surgery, implant-related infections are a significant problem. Implant-related infections are becoming more common with the increase in implant procedures. Implantation of implants has become a common and life-saving surgery. The number of hip surgeries performed worldwide is one million per year, and the number of knee surgeries exceeds 250000. More than 30% of hospital patients have one or more vascular catheters that need repair. More than 10% of hospital patients have a fixed urinary catheter. Approximately 2 million nosocomial infections cost over $11 billion each year in the United States. One of the most important risk factors is exposure to intrusive medical devices. Current treatment approaches have serious consequences for individuals and often fail to eradicate the disease. The increased likelihood of infections becoming chronic is due to effective bacterial evasion tactics, with biofilm formation being an important factor in bacterial persistence. The presence of foreign material promotes biofilm formation, contributing to the persistence of infection. Therefore, there is great interest in eradicating the disease in the planktonic phase (free-swimming bacteria) before biofilm transformation occurs and avoiding reinfection after antibiotic or surgical therapy. This mini-review reviews the literature on the implant, associated infections, their mechanism, and strategies used to prevent these infections.

Dynamic Control of Speed and Trajectories of Active Droplets in a Nematic Environment by Electric Field and Focused Laser Beam

One objective of active matter science is to unveil principles by which chaotic microscale dynamics could be transformed into useful work. A nematic liquid crystal environment offers a number of possibilities, one of which is a directional motion of an active droplet filled with an aqueous dispersion of swimming bacteria. In this work, using the responsiveness of the nematic to the electric field and light, we demonstrate how to control the direction and speed of active droplets. The dielectric response of nematic to the electric field causes two effects: 1) reorientation of the overall director, and 2) changing the symmetry of the director configuration around the droplet. The first effect redirects the propulsion direction while the second one changes the speed. A laser beam pointed to the vicinity of the droplet can trigger the desired director symmetry around the droplet, by switching between dipolar and quadrupolar configurations, thus affecting the motility and polarity of propulsion. The dynamic tuning of the direction and speed of active droplets represents a step forward in the development of controllable microswimmers.

Spontaneous Self-propulsion and Nonequillibrium Shape Fluctuations of a Droplet Enclosing Active Particles

Active particles, such as swimming bacteria or self-propelled colloids, spontaneously assemble into large-scale dynamic structures. Geometric boundaries often enforce different spatio-temporal patterns compared to unconfined environment and thus provide a platform to control the behavior of active matter. Here, we report collective dynamics of active particles enclosed by soft, deformable boundaries, that is responsive to the particles' activity. We reveal that a fluid droplet enclosing motile colloids powered by the Quincke effect (Quincke rollers) exhibits strong shape fluctuations, and while the rollers do self-organize into a single vortex, it fills the droplet interior. We demonstrate that the shape fluctuations have a power spectrum consistent with active fluctuations driven by particle-interface collisions, and a broken detailed balance confirms the nonequilibrium nature of the shape dynamics. We further find that the rollers activity coupled to soft boundary fluctuations can result in a spontaneous symmetry breaking and vortex splitting. The droplet acquires motility while the vortex doublet exists. Our findings provide insights into the complex collective behavior of active colloidal suspensions in soft confinement.

Transitioning to confined spaces impacts bacterial swimming and escape response

Symbiotic bacteria often navigate complex environments before colonizing privileged sites in their host organism. Chemical gradients are known to facilitate directional taxis of these bacteria, guiding them towards their eventual destination. However, less is known about the role of physical features in shaping the path the bacteria take and defining how they traverse a given space. The flagellated marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri, which forms a binary symbiosis with the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, must navigate tight physical confinement, squeezing through a bottleneck constricting to ~2 μm in width on the way to its eventual home. Using microfluidic in vitro experiments, we discovered that V. fischeri cells alter their behavior upon entry into confined space, straightening their swimming paths and promoting escape from confinement. Using a computational model, we attributed this escape response to two factors: reduced directional fluctuation and a refractory period between reversals. Additional experiments in asymmetric capillary tubes confirmed that V. fischeri quickly escape from tapered ends, even when drawn into the ends by chemoattraction. This avoidance was apparent down to a limit of confinement approaching the diameter of the cell itself, resulting in a balance between chemoattraction and evasion of physical confinement. Our findings demonstrate that non-trivial distributions of swimming bacteria can emerge from simple physical gradients in the level of confinement. Tight spaces may serve as an additional, crucial cue for bacteria while they navigate complex environments to enter specific habitats.

Novel amiloride derivatives that inhibit bacterial motility across multiple strains and stator types

The bacterial flagellar motor (BFM) is a protein complex that confers motility to cells and contributes to survival and virulence. The BFM consists of stators that are ion-selective membrane protein complexes and a rotor that directly connects to a large filament, acting as a propeller. The stator complexes couple ion transit across the membrane to torque that drives rotation of the motor. The most common ion gradients that drive BFM rotation are protons (H + ) and sodium ions (Na + ). The sodium-powered stators, like those in the PomAPomB stator complex of Vibrio spp, can be inhibited by sodium channel inhibitors, in particular, by phenamil, a potent and widely used inhibitor. However, relatively few new sodium-motility inhibitors have been described since the discovery of phenamil. In this study, we characterised two possible motility inhibitors HM2-16F and BB2-50F from a small library of previously reported amiloride derivatives. We used three approaches: effect on rotation of tethered cells, effect on free swimming bacteria and effect on rotation of marker beads. We showed that both HM2-16F and BB2-50F stopped rotation of tethered cells driven by Na + motors comparable to phenamil at matching concentrations, and could also stop rotation of tethered cells driven by H + motors. Bead measurements in presence and absence of stators confirmed that the compounds did not inhibit rotation via direct association with the stator, in contrast to the established mode of action of phenamil. Overall, HM2-16F and BB2-50F stopped swimming in both Na + and H + stator types, and in pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains. Importance: Here we characterised two novel amiloride derivatives in the search for antimicrobial compounds that target bacterial motility. Our two compounds were shown to inhibit flagellar motility at 10 μM across multiple strains, from non-pathogenic E. coli with flagellar rotation driven by proton or chimeric sodium-powered stators, to proton-powered pathogenic E. coli (EHEC/UPEC) and lastly in sodium-powered Vibrio alginolyticus . Broad anti-motility compounds such as these are important tools in our efforts control virulence of pathogens in health and agricultural settings.

Modelization of dispersion of swimming bacteria in Poiseuille flow

<p>We study the shear-induced migration of dilute suspensions of swimming bacteria (modelled as Active elongated Brownian Particles or ABPs) subject to plane Poiseuille flow in a confined channel. By incorporating very simple boundary conditions, we perform numerical simulations of the 3D equations of motion describing the change in position and orientation of the particles. We investigate the effects of confinement, of non-uniform shear and of aspect ratio of the particles on the overall dynamics of the ABPs population.</p><p>We particularly study the coupling between the local shear and the change in the orientation of the particles. We thus perform numerical simulations on both the case where the change in the orientation of the ABPs is purely diffusive (decoupled case) and the case where their orientation is coupled to the shear flow (coupled case). We observe that the decoupled case exhibits a Taylor dispersion <em>i.e.</em>  the effective dispersion coefficient of the ABPs along the direction of the flow is proportional to the square of the imposed shear at all shears. </p><p>However, for all the coupled cases we observe a transition from a Taylor to an active-Taylor regime at a critical shear rate, indicating the effect of shear coupling on the orientation dynamics of the particles. This critical shear rate is directly correlated to the degree of confinement. The change in the dispersion coefficient along the direction of the flow as function of the shear rate is in qualitative agreement with previous studies[1]. </p><p>To further understand these results, we also investigate the change in the dispersion coefficient in the other two directions along with the effect of the shape of the particles. We believe that this study should enhance our understanding of dispersion of bacteria through porous media, on surfaces etc. where shear flows are ubiquitous. </p><p>[1] Sandeep Chilukuri, Cynthia H.Collins, and Patrick T. Underhill. Dispersionof flagellated swimming microorganisms in planar poiseuille flow.Physics offluids, 27, (031902):1 –17, 2015</p>

Chirality-induced bacterial rheotaxis in bulk shear flows

Interaction of swimming bacteria with flows controls their ability to explore complex environments, crucial to many societal and environmental challenges and relevant for microfluidic applications such as cell sorting. Combining experimental, numerical, and theoretical analysis, we present a comprehensive study of the transport of motile bacteria in shear flows. Experimentally, we obtain with high accuracy and, for a large range of flow rates, the spatially resolved velocity and orientation distributions. They are in excellent agreement with the simulations of a kinematic model accounting for stochastic and microhydrodynamic properties and, in particular, the flagella chirality. Theoretical analysis reveals the scaling laws behind the average rheotactic velocity at moderate shear rates using a chirality parameter and explains the reorientation dynamics leading to saturation at large shear rates from the marginal stability of a fixed point. Our findings constitute a full understanding of the physical mechanisms and relevant parameters of bacteria bulk rheotaxis.