Grace E Johnson, Chenyi Fei, Ned S Wingreen, Bonnie L Bassler
{"title":"Analysis of gene expression within individual cells reveals spatiotemporal patterns underlying Vibrio cholerae biofilm development.","authors":"Grace E Johnson, Chenyi Fei, Ned S Wingreen, Bonnie L Bassler","doi":"10.1371/journal.pbio.3003187","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bacteria commonly exist in multicellular, surface-attached communities called biofilms. Biofilms are central to ecology, medicine, and industry. The Vibrio cholerae pathogen forms biofilms from single founder cells that, via cell division, mature into three-dimensional structures with distinct, yet reproducible, regional architectures. To define mechanisms underlying biofilm developmental transitions, we establish a single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization (smFISH) approach that enables accurate quantitation of spatiotemporal gene-expression patterns in biofilms at cell-scale resolution. smFISH analyses of V. cholerae biofilm regulatory and structural genes demonstrate that, as biofilms mature, overall matrix gene expression decreases, and simultaneously, a pattern emerges in which matrix gene expression becomes largely confined to peripheral biofilm cells. Both quorum sensing and c-di-GMP-signaling are required to generate the proper temporal pattern of matrix gene expression. Quorum sensing signaling is uniform across the biofilm, and thus, c-di-GMP-signaling alone sets the regional matrix gene expression pattern. The smFISH strategy provides insight into mechanisms conferring particular fates to individual biofilm cells.</p>","PeriodicalId":49001,"journal":{"name":"PLoS Biology","volume":"23 5","pages":"e3003187"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12121927/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"PLoS Biology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003187","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/5/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Agricultural and Biological Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Bacteria commonly exist in multicellular, surface-attached communities called biofilms. Biofilms are central to ecology, medicine, and industry. The Vibrio cholerae pathogen forms biofilms from single founder cells that, via cell division, mature into three-dimensional structures with distinct, yet reproducible, regional architectures. To define mechanisms underlying biofilm developmental transitions, we establish a single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization (smFISH) approach that enables accurate quantitation of spatiotemporal gene-expression patterns in biofilms at cell-scale resolution. smFISH analyses of V. cholerae biofilm regulatory and structural genes demonstrate that, as biofilms mature, overall matrix gene expression decreases, and simultaneously, a pattern emerges in which matrix gene expression becomes largely confined to peripheral biofilm cells. Both quorum sensing and c-di-GMP-signaling are required to generate the proper temporal pattern of matrix gene expression. Quorum sensing signaling is uniform across the biofilm, and thus, c-di-GMP-signaling alone sets the regional matrix gene expression pattern. The smFISH strategy provides insight into mechanisms conferring particular fates to individual biofilm cells.
期刊介绍:
PLOS Biology is the flagship journal of the Public Library of Science (PLOS) and focuses on publishing groundbreaking and relevant research in all areas of biological science. The journal features works at various scales, ranging from molecules to ecosystems, and also encourages interdisciplinary studies. PLOS Biology publishes articles that demonstrate exceptional significance, originality, and relevance, with a high standard of scientific rigor in methodology, reporting, and conclusions.
The journal aims to advance science and serve the research community by transforming research communication to align with the research process. It offers evolving article types and policies that empower authors to share the complete story behind their scientific findings with a diverse global audience of researchers, educators, policymakers, patient advocacy groups, and the general public.
PLOS Biology, along with other PLOS journals, is widely indexed by major services such as Crossref, Dimensions, DOAJ, Google Scholar, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, and Web of Science. Additionally, PLOS Biology is indexed by various other services including AGRICOLA, Biological Abstracts, BIOSYS Previews, CABI CAB Abstracts, CABI Global Health, CAPES, CAS, CNKI, Embase, Journal Guide, MEDLINE, and Zoological Record, ensuring that the research content is easily accessible and discoverable by a wide range of audiences.