F- phenocopies: characterization of expression of the F transfer region in stationary phase

Frost, Laura S.; Manchak, Jan

doi:10.1099/00221287-144-9-2579

Cited by 66 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Because IncF conjugation is strongly inhibited during stationary phase (Frost and Manchak, 1998), the disparity in plasmid persistence probably did not arise from plasmid transfer events. We posit instead that R1-bearing cells had an advantage in survival or proliferation over R1-16-bearing cells.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Transfer of diverse conjugative plasmids is inhibited by stationary phase and high-cell densities (Sudarshana and Knudsen, 1995;Frost and Manchak, 1998). To incorporate this dynamic into our simulations, we included a switch that reduced conjugation rates 1000-fold when C fell below 1/10th of the K m value (see Table 1 for variable definitions).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Competition favours reduced cost of plasmids to host bacteria

2009

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Conjugative plasmids of Gram-negative bacteria have both vertical and horizontal modes of transmission: they are segregated to daughter cells during division, and transferred between hosts by plasmid-encoded conjugative machinery. Despite maintaining horizontal mobility, many plasmids carry fertility inhibition (fin) systems that repress their own conjugative transfer. To assess the ecological basis of self-transfer repression, we compared the invasion of bacterial populations by fin þ and fin À variants of the plasmid R1 using a computational model and co-culture competitions. We observed that the fin þ variant had a modest cost to the host (measured by reduction in growth rate), while the fin À variant incurred a larger cost. In simulations and empirical competitions the fin À plasmid invaded cultures quickly, but was subsequently displaced by the fin þ plasmid. This indicated a competitive advantage to reducing horizontal transmission and allowing increased host replication. Computational simulations predicted that the advantage associated with reduced cost to the host would be maintained over a wide range of environmental conditions and plasmid costs. We infer that vertical transmission in concert with competitive exclusion favour decreased horizontal mobility of plasmids. Similar dynamics may exert evolutionary pressure on parasites, such as temperate bacteriophages and vertically transmitted animal viruses, to limit their rates of horizontal transfer.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition favours reduced cost of plasmids to host bacteria

2009

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“…When FC40 is incubating on lactose, the cells are not proliferating but replication is occasionally initiated at one of the episome's vegetative origins. Nicking at the conjugal origin is persistent in starving cells [61]; when the moving replication fork encounters this nick, the fork will have a high probability of collapsing, creating a double-strand end. Double-strand break repair is then initiated by RecBCD.…”

Section: Model For Adaptive Lac + Mutationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress responses and genetic variation in bacteria

Foster

2005

Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutag

178

106

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Under stressful conditions mechanisms that increase genetic variation can bestow a selective advantage. Bacteria have several stress responses that provide ways in which mutation rates can be increased. These include the SOS response, the general stress response, the heat-shock response, and the stringent response, all of which impact the regulation of error-prone polymerases. Adaptive mutation appears to be process by which cells can respond to selective pressure specifically by producing mutations. In Escherichia coli strain FC40 adaptive mutation involves the following inducible components: (i) a recombination pathway that generates mutations; (ii) a DNA polymerase that synthesizes error-containing DNA; and (iii) stress responses that regulate cellular processes. In addition, a subpopulation of cells enters into a state of hypermutation, giving rise to about 10% of the single mutants and virtually all of the mutants with multiple mutations. These bacterial responses have implications for the development of cancer and other genetic disorders in higher organisms.

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“…This might be explained by the fact that the F-pili mating pairs are formed mainly outside the mature biofilms owing to higher reproductive activity (May et al, 2010), and thus the f1 phage could infect cells located in the outermost of the biofilm. Based on the level of traA transcripts as a measure of transcription of the entire conjugative-factor including the F-pili subunit synthesis (Frost and Manchak, 1998), we found that F-pili transcripts was at the maximum during the microcolony formation stage (6-12 h) and decreased during the late biofilm development and maturation stages (24-48 h) (Figure 2c). Similarly, the number of F-pili declined in the biofilm maturation stage (Figure 2c).…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Exposure of conjugative plasmid carrying Escherichia coli biofilms to male-specific bacteriophages

2010

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Escherichia coli carrying a natural conjugative F-plasmid generates F-pili mating pairs, which is important for early biofilm formation. In this study, we investigated the effect of male-specific filamentous single stranded DNA bacteriophage (f1) and RNA bacteriophage (MS2) on the formation of biofilms by E. coli carrying a natural conjugative F-plasmid. We showed that the early biofilm formation was completely inhibited by addition of the f1 phage, but not the MS2 phage. This suggests that the tip of F-pili is the specific attachment site for mating pairs formation and the side of F-pili has a non-obligatory role during biofilm formation. The inhibitory effect of the f1 phage was dependent on the time of addition during the biofilm formation. No inhibitory effect was observed when the f1 phages were added to the mature biofilms. This resistant mechanism of the mature biofilms could be attributed to the biofilm-specific phenotypes representing that the F-pili mating pairs were already formed and then the curli production commenced during the biofilm maturation. The pre-formed mating pairs seemed to resist the f1 phages. Altogether, our results indicate a close relationship between the presence of conjugative plasmid and male-specific bacteriophages within sessile biofilm communities, as well as the possibility of using the male-specific bacteriophages to control biofilm formation.

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F- phenocopies: characterization of expression of the F transfer region in stationary phase

Cited by 66 publications

References 46 publications

Competition favours reduced cost of plasmids to host bacteria

Competition favours reduced cost of plasmids to host bacteria

Stress responses and genetic variation in bacteria

Exposure of conjugative plasmid carrying Escherichia coli biofilms to male-specific bacteriophages

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