DNA-uptake pili of Vibrio cholerae are required for chitin colonization and capable of kin recognition via sequence-specific self-interaction.
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Adams DW
Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland. david.adams@epfl.ch.
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Stutzmann S
Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Stoudmann C
Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Blokesch M
Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland. melanie.blokesch@epfl.ch.
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Published in:
- Nature microbiology. - 2019
English
How bacteria colonize surfaces and how they distinguish the individuals around them are fundamental biological questions. Type IV pili are a widespread and multipurpose class of cell surface polymers. Here we directly visualize the DNA-uptake pilus of Vibrio cholerae, which is produced specifically during growth on its natural habitat-chitinous surfaces. As predicted, these pili are highly dynamic and retract before DNA uptake during competence for natural transformation. Interestingly, DNA-uptake pili can also self-interact to mediate auto-aggregation. This capability is conserved in disease-causing pandemic strains, which typically encode the same major pilin subunit, PilA. Unexpectedly, however, we discovered that extensive strain-to-strain variability in PilA (present in environmental isolates) creates a set of highly specific interactions, enabling cells producing pili composed of different PilA subunits to distinguish between one another. We go on to show that DNA-uptake pili bind to chitinous surfaces and are required for chitin colonization under flow, and that pili capable of self-interaction connect cells on chitin within dense pili networks. Our results suggest a model whereby DNA-uptake pili function to promote inter-bacterial interactions during surface colonization. Moreover, they provide evidence that type IV pili could offer a simple and potentially widespread mechanism for bacterial kin recognition.
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green
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https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/69585
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