Deciphering the hunting strategy of a bacterial wolfpack (original) (raw)
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Myxococcus xanthus, a unique predatory myxobacterium: Gliding, hunting and feeding together
Myxococcus xanthus, a unique soil dwelling myxobacteria is omnivore in nature which feeds on other microbes. Having a multicellular social lifestyle, this bacterium is unique in its own way. The multicellular behaviour involves scouting, gliding, branching, fruiting and rippling. Being omnivore in nature it uses its attacking strategy to attack and lyse its prey for nutrient absorption. Its complex life cycle involves a growth phases which mainly depends upon environmental conditions. This bacterium produces myxospores which makes them heat-resistant, UV and desiccation resistant. M. xanthus is known to be producing secondary metabolites such as antibiotics and hydrolytic enzymes to kill and lyse prey cells. Low molecular weight antibacterial produced by them autolyse self-cells (autocides) and other microbes (paracides). The important paracides produced by them are myxovirescin A and myxalamid B and important autocides are AMI and AMV. Due to its antimicrobial producing efficiency, it is used as natural bio-control agent against many pathogens.
Multicellular Development in Myxococcus xanthus Is Stimulated by Predator-Prey Interactions
Journal of Bacteriology, 2007
Myxococcus xanthus is a predatory bacterium that exhibits complex social behavior. The most pronounced behavior is the aggregation of cells into raised fruiting body structures in which cells differentiate into stress-resistant spores. In the laboratory, monocultures of M. xanthus at a very high density will reproducibly induce hundreds of randomly localized fruiting bodies when exposed to low nutrient availability and a solid surface. In this report, we analyze how M. xanthus fruiting body development proceeds in a coculture with suitable prey. Our analysis indicates that when prey bacteria are provided as a nutrient source, fruiting body aggregation is more organized, such that fruiting bodies form specifically after a step-down or loss of prey availability, whereas a step-up in prey availability inhibits fruiting body formation. This localization of aggregates occurs independently of the basal nutrient levels tested, indicating that starvation is not required for this process. An...
Myxobacteria: Moving, Killing, Feeding, and Surviving Together
Frontiers in microbiology, 2016
Myxococcus xanthus, like other myxobacteria, is a social bacterium that moves and feeds cooperatively in predatory groups. On surfaces, rod-shaped vegetative cells move in search of the prey in a coordinated manner, forming dynamic multicellular groups referred to as swarms. Within the swarms, cells interact with one another and use two separate locomotion systems. Adventurous motility, which drives the movement of individual cells, is associated with the secretion of slime that forms trails at the leading edge of the swarms. It has been proposed that cellular traffic along these trails contributes to M. xanthus social behavior via stigmergic regulation. However, most of the cells travel in groups by using social motility, which is cell contact-dependent and requires a large number of individuals. Exopolysaccharides and the retraction of type IV pili at alternate poles of the cells are the engines associated with social motility. When the swarms encounter prey, the population of M. ...
Profiling Myxococcus xanthus swarming phenotypes through mutation and environmental variation
bioRxiv, 2021
Myxococcus xanthus is a bacterium that lives on surfaces as a predatory biofilm called a swarm.As a growing swarm feeds on prey and expands, it displays dynamic multicellular patterns such as traveling waves called ripples and branching protrusions called flares. The rate at which a swarm expands across a surface, and the emergence of the coexisting patterns, are all controlled through coordinated cell movement. M. xanthus cells move using two motility systems known as Adventurous (A) and Social (S). Both are involved in swarm expansion and pattern formation. In this study, we describe a set of M. xanthus swarming genotype-to-phenotype associations that include both genetic and environmental perturbations. We identified new features of the swarming phenotype; recorded and measured swarm expansion using time-lapse microscopy; and compared the impact of mutation on different surfaces. These observations and analyses have increased our ability to discriminate between swarming phenotype...
Extracellular biology of Myxococcus xanthus
FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 2010
Myxococcus xanthus has a lifecycle characterized by several social interactions. In the presence of prey, M. xanthus is a predator forming cooperatively feeding colonies, and in the absence of nutrients, M. xanthus cells interact to form multicellular, spore-filled fruiting bodies. Formation of both cellular patterns depends on extracellular functions including the extracellular matrix and intercellular signals. Interestingly, the formation of these patterns also depends on several activities that involve direct cell-cell contacts between M. xanthus cells or direct contacts between M. xanthus cells and the substratum, suggesting that M. xanthus cells have a marked ability to distinguish self from nonself. Genomewide analyses of the M. xanthus genome reveal a large potential for protein secretion. Myxococcus xanthus harbours all protein secretion systems required for translocation of unfolded and folded proteins across the cytoplasmic membrane and an intact type II secretion system. Moreover, M. xanthus contains 60 ATPbinding cassette transporters, two degenerate type III secretion systems, both of which lack the parts in the outer membrane and the needle structure, and an intact type VI secretion system for one-step translocation of proteins across the cell envelope. Also, analyses of the M. xanthus proteome reveal a large protein secretion potential including many proteins of unknown function.
FEMS microbiology letters, 1996
Myxococcus xanthus cells move over surfaces by gliding motility. The frz signal transduction system is used to control the reversal frequency, and thus the overall direction of movement of M. xunfhus cells. We analyzed the behavior of wild-type and frz mutant cells in response to prey bacteria (Escherichiu coli). Wild-type cells of M. xanthus did not respond to microcolonies of E. coli until they made physical contact. Cells which penetrated a colony remained in the colony until all of the prey cells were digested. Cells of frz mutants also penetrated E. coEi microcolonies and digested some of the E. colt' cells, but they invariably abandoned the microcolony leaving their food source behind. These observations illustrate the importance of the frz system of signal transduction for the feeding behavior of M. xunthus cells.
Current trends in myxobacteria research
Annals of Microbiology, 2015
Myxobacteria are fascinating Gram-negative bacteria whose life cycle includes the formation of multicellular fruiting bodies that contain about 100,000 cells differentiated as asexual spores for their long-term survival. They move by gliding on surfaces, an activity that helps them carry out their primitive kind of multicellular development. Myxobacteria have multiple traits that are clearly social in nature; they move and feed socially. These processes require specific intercellular signals, thereby exhibiting a sophisticated level of the interorganismal communication. Myxobacteria are predators. Predation is social not only with respect to searching for prey (motility) but also in the killing of prey. Swarming groups of cells secrete antibiotics and bacteriolytic compounds that kill and lyse their prey, and food is thereby released. Since the last three decades, myxobacteria are known as valuable producers of secondary metabolites exhibiting various biological activities. Myxobacterial metabolites exhibit many unique structural features as well as rare or novel modes of action, making them attractive lead structures for drug development. Both genome sequencing and metabolic profiling of myxobacterial strains suggest that the diversity of myxobacterial secondary metabolism is far greater than previously appreciated. The present review discusses the structure, cytology, physiology, and ecology of myxobacteria, as well as their secondary metabolite production and social interactions.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1993
Myxococcus xanthus, a bacterium that forms fruiting bodies, moves by gliding motility utilizing dual motility systems that differ both genetically and morphologically [system A, having at least 21 genetic loci and moving mainly single cells, and system S, having at least 10 genetic loci and moving groups (rafts) of cells] [Hodgkin, J. & Kaiser, D. (1979) Mol. Gen. Genet. 172, 177-191]. In this study, we found that A- and S-gliding-motility systems have different selective advantages on surfaces containing different concentrations of agar. We observed that colonies of A+S- cells (A-motile cells) swarmed better than A-S+ cells (S-motile cells) on relatively firm and dry surfaces (e.g., 1.5% agar). In contrast, colonies of A-S+ cells swarmed much better than A+S- cells on soft and wet surfaces (e.g., 0.3% agar). Individual A-motile cells moved at a rate of 2-4 microns/min on 1.5% agar but they barely moved on 0.3% agar (< 0.5 microns/min); in contrast S-motile cells moved 3-5 times faster on 0.3% agar than on 1.5% agar. Wild-type cells with both A- and S-motility systems were able to move well over a wide range of surfaces. These results suggest that dual motility systems enable the myxobacteria to adapt to a variety of physiological and ecological environments and show similarities in function to the dual motility systems of flagellated bacteria such as Vibrio spp.