Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus gen. et sp. n., a predatory, ectoparasitic, and bacteriolytic microorganism

Stolp, H.; Starr, Mortimer P.

doi:10.1007/bf02046064

Cited by 422 publications

(358 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…In soil and water, where B. bacteriovorus is found, a very large fraction of the bacterial community consists of small cells, <0.5 μm in width (58,61,62), not larger than B. bacteriovorus AP cells themselves (12). Our model predicts that B. bacteriovorus would prey successfully on such poorly nutritious prey cells, which may be too small to accommodate a full intracellular growth cycle but do have a limited nutritional value.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…BALOs (Bdellovibrio and similar organisms) constitute an exclusive group of obligate predatory Gram-negative bacteria that prey solely on other Gram-negative bacteria (11,12). As such, they are considered as potential biocontrol agents and living antibiotics (13,14).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus, a periplasmic obligate predator, has a biphasic and dimorphic cell cycle during which a short, fastswimming, and nonreplicative attack-phase (AP) cell searches for prey, attaches to the prey's envelope, and perforates the envelope to penetrate and settle within the prey periplasm, forming a bdelloplast (12). Numerous functions, such as modifications of the prey's cell wall (23)(24)(25)(26)(27), shedding of the predator's flagellum (28), and killing of the prey cell (29), generate the conditions required for entering the growth phase (GP).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Cell-cycle progress in obligate predatory bacteria is dependent upon sequential sensing of prey recognition and prey quality cues

Rotem

Pasternak

Shimoni

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Predators feed on prey to acquire the nutrients necessary to sustain their survival, growth, and replication. In Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus, an obligate predator of Gram-negative bacteria, cell growth and replication are tied to a shift from a motile, free-living phase of search and attack to a sessile, intracellular phase of growth and replication during which a single prey cell is consumed. Engagement and sustenance of growth are achieved through the sensing of two unidentified prey-derived cues. We developed a novel ex vivo cultivation system for B. bacteriovorus composed of prey ghost cells that are recognized and invaded by the predator. By manipulating their content, we demonstrated that an early cue is located in the prey envelope and a late cue is found within the prey soluble fraction. These spatially and temporally separated cues elicit discrete and combinatory regulatory effects on gene transcription. Together, they delimit a poorly characterized transitory phase between the attack phase and the growth phase, during which the bdelloplast (the invaded prey cell) is constructed. This transitory phase constitutes a checkpoint in which the late cue presumably acts as a determinant of the prey's nutritional value before the predator commits. These regulatory adaptations to a unique bacterial lifestyle have not been reported previously.microbial ecology | bacterial physiology | bacterial cell cycle | predatory bacteria | Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cell-cycle progress in obligate predatory bacteria is dependent upon sequential sensing of prey recognition and prey quality cues

Rotem

Pasternak

Shimoni

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…It is present in many proteobacteria, including d-proteobacteria and the predatory Myxococcus xanthus (Mö ll and Thanbichler, 2009), but absent from the periplasmic predators, suggesting that the machinery used to synchronously split the predatory filamentous cell (Fenton et al, 2010b) does not simply replicate the binary division apparatus at multiple sites. Other differences between the two types of predators, which are related to growth mechanisms, include the apparent inability to obtain host-independent (HI) mutants from epibiotic predators, in contrast to periplasmic predators (Stolp and Starr, 1963;Barel and Jurkevitch, 2001;Dashiff and Kadouri, 2009). This may be related to the absence of bd108 homologues (bd108 is a gene directly implicated in the HI phenotype); (Cotter and Thomashow, 1992;Wurtzel et al, 2010;Roschanski et al, 2011) in the genomes of B. exovorus JSS and M. aeruginosavorus.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In and out: an analysis of epibiotic vs periplasmic bacterial predators

et al. 2013

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Bdellovibrio and like organisms (BALO) are obligate predators of Gram-negative bacteria, belonging to the a-and d-proteobacteria. BALO prey using either a periplasmic or an epibiotic predatory strategy, but the genetic background underlying these phenotypes is not known. Here we compare the epibiotic Bdellovibrio exovorus and Micavibrio aeruginosavorus to the periplasmic B. bacteriovorus and Bacteriovorax marinus. Electron microscopy showed that M. aeruginosavorus, but not B. exovorus, can attach to prey cells in a non-polar manner through its longitudinal side. Both these predators were resistant to a surprisingly high number of antibiotic compounds, possibly via 26 and 19 antibiotic-resistance genes, respectively, most of them encoding efflux pumps. Comparative genomic analysis of all the BALOs revealed that epibiotic predators have a much smaller genome (ca. 2.5 Mbp) than the periplasmic predators (ca. 3.5 Mbp). Additionally, periplasmic predators have, on average, 888 more proteins, at least 60% more peptidases, and one more rRNA operon. Fifteen and 219 protein families were specific to the epibiotic and the periplasmic predators, respectively, the latter clearly forming the core of the periplasmic 'predatome', which is upregulated during the growth phase. Metabolic deficiencies of epibiotic genomes include the synthesis of inosine, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and the siderophore aerobactin. The phylogeny of the epibiotic predators suggests that they evolved by convergent evolution, with M. aeruginosavorus originating from a non-predatory ancestor while B. exovorus evolved from periplasmic predators by gene loss.

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“…Does fragmentation increase the persistence of the prey population? Furthermore, given that B. bacteriovorus has shown potential to protect crops and reduce biofouling [26][27][28][29], it would be useful to know how its effectiveness in structured habitats relates to its effectiveness as measured in well-mixed (unstructured) culture flasks [30][31][32]. In this regard, B. bacteriovorus has also attracted significant interest because of its potential to eradicate bacterial biofilms which are spatially structured at the microscale [33,34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial predator–prey dynamics in microscale patchy landscapes

et al. 2016

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Soil is a microenvironment with a fragmented (patchy) spatial structure in which many bacterial species interact. Here, we explore the interaction between the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and its prey Escherichia coli in microfabricated landscapes. We ask how fragmentation influences the prey dynamics at the microscale and compare two landscape geometries: a patchy landscape and a continuous landscape. By following the dynamics of prey populations with high spatial and temporal resolution for many generations, we found that the variation in predation rates was twice as large in the patchy landscape and the dynamics was correlated over shorter length scales. We also found that while the prey population in the continuous landscape was almost entirely driven to extinction, a significant part of the prey population in the fragmented landscape persisted over time. We observed significant surface-associated growth, especially in the fragmented landscape and we surmise that this sub-population is more resistant to predation. Our results thus show that microscale fragmentation can significantly influence bacterial interactions.

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Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus gen. et sp. n., a predatory, ectoparasitic, and bacteriolytic microorganism

Cited by 422 publications

References 8 publications

Cell-cycle progress in obligate predatory bacteria is dependent upon sequential sensing of prey recognition and prey quality cues

Cell-cycle progress in obligate predatory bacteria is dependent upon sequential sensing of prey recognition and prey quality cues

In and out: an analysis of epibiotic vs periplasmic bacterial predators

Bacterial predator–prey dynamics in microscale patchy landscapes

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