Flagellum-driven motility enhances Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation by altering cell orientation.

IF 3.7 2区 生物学 Q2 BIOTECHNOLOGY & APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Pub Date : 2025-07-23 Epub Date: 2025-07-03 DOI:10.1128/aem.00821-25
Guanju Wei, Jessica-Jae S Palalay, Joseph E Sanfilippo, Judy Q Yang
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Bacterial motility plays a crucial role in biofilm development, yet the underlying mechanism remains not fully understood. Here, we demonstrate that the flagellum-driven motility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa enhances biofilm formation by altering the orientation of bacterial cells, an effect controlled by shear stress rather than shear rate. By tracking wild-type P. aeruginosa and its non-motile mutants in a microfluidic channel, we demonstrate that while non-motile cells align with the flow, many motile cells can orient toward the channel sidewalls, enhancing cell surface attachment and increasing biofilm cell density by up to 10-fold. Experiments with varying fluid viscosities further demonstrate that bacterial swimming speed decreases with increasing fluid viscosity, and the cell orientation scales with the shear stress rather than shear rate. Our results provide a quantitative framework to predict the role of motility in the orientation and biofilm development under different flow conditions and viscosities.IMPORTANCEBiofilms are ubiquitous in rivers, water pipes, and medical devices, impacting the environment and human health. While bacterial motility plays a crucial role in biofilm development, a mechanistic understanding remains limited, hindering our ability to predict and control biofilms. Here, we reveal how the motility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common pathogen, influences biofilm formation through systematically controlled microfluidic experiments with confocal and high-speed microscopy. We demonstrate that the orientation of bacterial cells is controlled by shear stress. While non-motile cells primarily align with the flow, many motile cells overcome the fluid shear forces and reorient toward the channel sidewalls, increasing biofilm cell density by up to 10-fold. Our findings provide insights into how bacterial transition from free-swimming to surface-attached states under varying flow conditions, emphasizing the role of cell orientation in biofilm establishment. These results enhance our understanding of bacterial behavior in flow environments, informing strategies for biofilm management and control.

鞭毛驱动的运动通过改变细胞取向促进铜绿假单胞菌生物膜的形成。
细菌运动在生物膜发育中起着至关重要的作用,但其潜在的机制仍未完全了解。在这里,我们证明了铜绿假单胞菌鞭毛驱动的运动通过改变细菌细胞的方向来促进生物膜的形成,这一效应由剪切应力而不是剪切速率控制。通过在微流体通道中跟踪野生型铜绿假单胞菌及其非运动突变体,我们证明,当非运动细胞与流体对齐时,许多运动细胞可以定向到通道侧壁,增强细胞表面附着并将生物膜细胞密度提高10倍。不同黏度的实验进一步表明,细菌游动速度随黏度的增加而降低,细胞取向随剪切应力而非剪切速率而变化。我们的结果提供了一个定量的框架来预测在不同的流动条件和粘度下运动在取向和生物膜发育中的作用。重要性生物膜在河流、水管和医疗设备中无处不在,影响着环境和人类健康。虽然细菌的运动在生物膜的发育中起着至关重要的作用,但对其机理的理解仍然有限,这阻碍了我们预测和控制生物膜的能力。在这里,我们通过共聚焦和高速显微镜系统控制的微流体实验揭示了铜绿假单胞菌(一种常见的病原体)的运动如何影响生物膜的形成。我们证明了细菌细胞的取向是由剪切应力控制的。虽然非运动细胞主要与流体对齐,但许多运动细胞克服流体剪切力并重新定向到通道侧壁,将生物膜细胞密度提高了10倍。我们的研究结果揭示了细菌如何在不同的流动条件下从自由游动过渡到表面附着状态,强调了细胞取向在生物膜建立中的作用。这些结果增强了我们对流动环境中细菌行为的理解,为生物膜管理和控制策略提供了信息。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Applied and Environmental Microbiology 生物-生物工程与应用微生物
CiteScore
7.70
自引率
2.30%
发文量
730
审稿时长
1.9 months
期刊介绍: Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM) publishes papers that make significant contributions to (a) applied microbiology, including biotechnology, protein engineering, bioremediation, and food microbiology, (b) microbial ecology, including environmental, organismic, and genomic microbiology, and (c) interdisciplinary microbiology, including invertebrate microbiology, plant microbiology, aquatic microbiology, and geomicrobiology.
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