Author response: Interspecies interactions induce exploratory motility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Limoli, Dominique H.; Warren, Elizabeth; Yarrington, Kaitlin D; Donegan, Niles P.; Cheung, Ambrose L.; O’Toole, George A.

doi:10.7554/elife.47365.sa2

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…This calling distance have been estimated to ∼5-80 µm in a rhizosphere system (Gantner et al, 2006) and by others elegantly shown to occur over very short distances (∼1 µm) effectively requiring juxtaposition of different species (Egland et al, 2004). The importance of chemoattractant substances, and thus distance, has also been demonstrated by Limoli et al (2019), where S. aureus and P. aeruginosa were used to show that P. aeruginosa modifies surface motility according to secreted factors from S. aureus (Limoli et al, 2019). Only when P. aeruginosa aggregates were at a certain distance of the S. aureus aggregates, P. aeruginosa responded and changed the surface motility.…”

Section: Micro-environmental Challenges For Mixed-species Biofilmsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Do Mixed-Species Biofilms Dominate in Chronic Infections?–Need for in situ Visualization of Bacterial Organization

Kvich

Burmølle

Bjarnsholt

et al. 2020

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

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Chronic infections present a serious economic burden to health-care systems. The severity and prevalence of chronic infections are continuously increasing due to an aging population and an elevated number of lifestyle related diseases such as diabetes. Treatment of chronic infections has proven difficult, mainly due to the presence of biofilms that render bacteria more tolerant toward antimicrobials and the host immune response. Chronic infections have been described to harbor several different bacterial species and it has been hypothesized that microscale interactions and mixed-species consortia are present as described for most natural occurring biofilms i.e., aquatic systems and industrial settings, but also for some commensal human biofilms i.e., the mouth microbiota. However, the presence of mixed-species biofilms in chronic infections is most often an assumption based on culture-based methods and/or by means of molecular approaches, such as PCR and sequencing performed from homogenized bulk tissue samples. These methods disregard the spatial organization of the bacterial community and thus valuable information on biofilm aggregate composition, spatial organization, and possible interactions between different species is lost. Hitherto, only few studies have made visual in situ presentations of mixed-species biofilms in chronic infections, which is pivotal for the description of bacterial composition, spatial distribution, and interspecies interaction on the microscale. In order for bacteria to interact (synergism, commensalism, mutualism, competition, etc.) they need to be in close proximity to each other on the scale where they can affect e.g., solute concentrations. We argue that visual proof of mixed species biofilms in chronic infections is scarce compared to what is seen in e.g., environmental biofilms and call for a debate on the importance of mixed-species biofilm in chronic infections.

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Section: Micro-environmental Challenges For Mixed-species Biofilmsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Do Mixed-Species Biofilms Dominate in Chronic Infections?–Need for in situ Visualization of Bacterial Organization

Kvich

Burmølle

Bjarnsholt

et al. 2020

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

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Single-cell imaging reveals that Staphylococcus aureus is highly competitive against Pseudomonas aeruginosa on surfaces

Niggli

Wechsler

Kümmerli

2021

Preprint

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus frequently occur together in polymicrobial infections, and their interactions can complicate disease progression as well as treatment options. While interactions between P. aeruginosa and S. aureus have been extensively described using planktonic batch cultures, little is known about whether and how individual cells interact with each other on solid substrates. This is important, because in infections, both species frequently colonize surfaces to form microcolony aggregates and biofilms. Here, we performed single-cell time-lapse fluorescence microscopy combined with automated image analysis to describe interactions between P. aeruginosa PAO1 with three different S. aureus strains (Cowan I, 6850, JE2) during microcolony growth on agarose surfaces. While P. aeruginosa is usually considered the dominant species, we found that the competitive balance tips in favor of S. aureus on surfaces. We observed that all S. aureus strains accelerated the onset of microcolony growth in competition with P. aeruginosa and significantly compromised P. aeruginosa growth prior to physical contact. These results suggest that S. aureus deploys mechanisms of both resource competition and interference competition via diffusible compounds. JE2 was the most competitive S. aureus strain, simply usurping P. aeruginosa microcolonies when coming into direct contact, while 6850 was the weakest competitor itself suppressed by P. aeruginosa. Moreover, P. aeruginosa reacted to the assault of S. aureus by showing increased directional growth and expedited expression of quorum sensing regulators controlling the synthesis of competitive traits. Altogether, our results reveal that quantitative single-cell live imaging has the potential to uncover microbial behaviors that cannot be predicted from batch culture studies, and thereby contribute to our understanding of interactions between pathogens that co-colonize host-associated surfaces during polymicrobial infections.

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How Bacterial Adaptation to Cystic Fibrosis Environment Shapes Interactions Between Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus

et al. 2021

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are the two most prevalent bacteria species in the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and are associated with poor clinical outcomes. Co-infection by the two species is a frequent situation that promotes their interaction. The ability of P. aeruginosa to outperform S. aureus has been widely described, and this competitive interaction was, for a long time, the only one considered. More recently, several studies have described that the two species are able to coexist. This change in relationship is linked to the evolution of bacterial strains in the lungs. This review attempts to decipher how bacterial adaptation to the CF environment can induce a change in the type of interaction and promote coexisting interaction between P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. The impact of coexistence on the establishment and maintenance of a chronic infection will also be presented, by considering the latest research on the subject.

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Author response: Interspecies interactions induce exploratory motility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Do Mixed-Species Biofilms Dominate in Chronic Infections?–Need for in situ Visualization of Bacterial Organization

Do Mixed-Species Biofilms Dominate in Chronic Infections?–Need for in situ Visualization of Bacterial Organization

Single-cell imaging reveals that Staphylococcus aureus is highly competitive against Pseudomonas aeruginosa on surfaces

How Bacterial Adaptation to Cystic Fibrosis Environment Shapes Interactions Between Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus

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