Title:
Single-cell dynamics of self-assembling bacterial communities
Single-cell dynamics of self-assembling bacterial communities
Author(s)
Puri, Devina
Advisor(s)
Allison, Kyle R.
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Abstract
Bacteria are unicellular organisms, but they can also form multicellular communities called biofilms. Differing from individual “planktonic” cells, biofilms can better withstand toxic environments, tolerate antibiotic treatment and escape immune response. Hence, biofilms serve as reservoirs for several chronic and recurrent infections, making their study important from a public health standpoint. Genetics of biofilms have been thoroughly investigated, and advances in microscopy have provided insights into their structure and physiology. However, the observations of cell-scale morphogenetic events leading to their formation are incomplete. The overall objective of this work was to develop a platform to study multicellular self-assembly in biofilms by tracking their dynamics at the single-cell level. Through these approaches, we tracked the complete morphogenesis at the cell scale in Escherichia coli and report a novel multicellular self-assembly process. This developmental process is initiated as single-cells divide and assemble 4-cell rosettes, which extend into regulated chain-like communities. Each multicellular chain remains clonal and grows up to hundreds of micrometers in lengths, before ultimately stopping growth and attaching to the surface. The parallel-aligned accumulation of attached clonal chains generates biofilms. This process has multiple stages, each of which has a specific genetic regulation. Overall, this study establishes that E. coli, a unicellular bacterium and an important pathogen, can follow a multicellular life cycle. This uncovered process has implications for understanding development of E. coli biofilms, treatment and prevention of bacterial diseases, and the engineering of synthetic multicellular communities.
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Date Issued
2023-03-23
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Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Dissertation