Nature of the Swarming Phenomenon in Proteus

Williams, Fred D.; Schwarzhoff, R H

doi:10.1146/annurev.mi.32.100178.000533

Cited by 126 publications

(113 citation statements)

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“…Swarming motility P. mirabilis possesses some distinctive characteristics within the Enterobacteriaceae family, such as swarming motility, a coordinate multicellular behaviour dependent on flagella that occurs when cells grow on solid rich media or on viscous surfaces (Mobley & Belas, 1995;Williams & Schwarzhoff, 1978). Some reports have indicated that P. mirabilis swarming motility occurs in vivo, promoting UTI (Mobley et al, 1996;Allison et al, 1994;Pazin & Braude, 1974).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proteus mirabilis isolates of different origins do not show correlation with virulence attributes and can colonize the urinary tract of mice

2006

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Proteus mirabilis has been described as an aetiological agent in a wide range of infections, playing an important role in urinary tract infections (UTIs). In this study, a collection of P. mirabilis isolates obtained from clinical and non-clinical sources was analysed in order to determine a possible correlation between origin, virulence factors and in vivo infectivity. Isolates were characterized in vitro, assessing several virulence properties that had been previously associated with P. mirabilis uropathogenicity. Swarming motility, urease production, growth in urine, outer-membrane protein patterns, ability to grow in the presence of different iron sources, haemolysin and haemagglutinin production, and the presence and expression of diverse fimbrial genes, were analysed. In order to evaluate the infectivity of the different isolates, the experimental ascending UTI model in mice was used. Additionally, the Dienes test and the enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR assay were performed to assess the genetic diversity of the isolates. The results of the present study did not show any correlation between distribution of the diverse potential urovirulence factors and isolate source. No significant correlation was observed between infectivity and the origin of the isolates, since they all similarly colonized the urinary tract of the challenged mice. Finally, all isolates showed unique ERIC-PCR patterns, indicating that the isolates were genetically diverse. The results obtained in this study suggest that the source of P. mirabilis strains cannot be correlated with pathogenic attributes, and that the distribution of virulence factors between isolates of different origins may correspond to the opportunistic nature of the organism.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proteus mirabilis isolates of different origins do not show correlation with virulence attributes and can colonize the urinary tract of mice

2006

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“…Because P. mirabilis can swarm over many agarsolidified media (such as L agar), an agar-containing medium was prepared which prevents the phenotypic expression of swarming motility. It does not contain any metabolic poisons commonly used to prevent swarming such as P-phenethyl alcohol or p-nitrophenylglycerol, as have been used previously (20). This medium, referred to as LSW-agar, contained (per liter) 10 g of tryptone, 5 g of yeast extract, 5 ml of glycerol (Ultra Pure; Life Technologies, Inc., Gaithersburg, Md.…”

Section: * Corresponding Authormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Swarming is the end result of a complex differentiation process which ultimately produces an elongated swarmer cell possessing hundreds of flagella (3,20). Until recently (1), in-depth studies with modem techniques have not been applied to understanding the genetic regulation and sensory transduction mechanisms of swarmer cell differentiation and swarming of P. mirabilis.…”

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confidence: 99%

Transposon mutagenesis in Proteus mirabilis

1991

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A technique of transposon mutagenesis involving the use of TnS on a suicide plasmid was developed for Proteus mirabilis. Analysis of the resulting exconjugants indicated that TnS transposed in P. mirabilis at a frequency of ca. 4.5 x 10-6 per recipient cell. The resulting mutants were stable and retained the transposon-encoded antibiotic resistance when incubated for several generations under nonselective conditions. The frequency of auxotrophic mutants in the population, as well as DNA-DNA hybridization to transposon sequences, confirmed that the insertion of the transposon was random and the Proteus chromosome did not contain significant insertional hot spots of transposition. Approximately 35% of the mutants analyzed possessed plasmid-acquired ampicillin resistance, although no extrachromosomal plasmid DNA was found. In these mutants, insertion of the Tn5 element and a part or all of the plasmid had occurred. Application of this technique to the study of swarmer cell differentiation in P. mirabilis is discussed.

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“…Indeed, the incorporation of a lag phase in swarmer cell production triggers the development of a consolidation phase after a swarm phase and thus prevents a self-sustaining soliton caused by swarmers that dedifferentiate into swimmers immediately differentiating into new swarmers. This lag in the onset of differentiation was observed in [18] and included in the models in [6,7,12]. The integral term in (1.2) represents dedifferentiation of swarmer cells into swimmer cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…For further reading concerning morphology and pathogenicity of Proteus mirabilis and for numerical results for models of this bacteria we refer to [6,7,8,9,12,13,14,17,18] and the references therein. Moreover, as population models structured by age and spatial position have a long history we merely refer the interested reader to [19] for an extensive list of literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Age and Spatially Structured Population Model forProteus MirabilisSwarm-Colony Development

Laurençot

Walker

2008

Math. Model. Nat. Phenom.

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Abstract. Proteus mirabilis are bacteria that make strikingly regular spatial-temporal patterns on agar surfaces. In this paper we investigate a mathematical model that has been shown to display these structures when solved numerically. The model consists of an ordinary differential equation coupled with a partial differential equation involving a first-order hyperbolic aging term together with nonlinear degenerate diffusion. The system is shown to admit global weak solutions.

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Nature of the Swarming Phenomenon in Proteus

Cited by 126 publications

References 0 publications

Proteus mirabilis isolates of different origins do not show correlation with virulence attributes and can colonize the urinary tract of mice

Proteus mirabilis isolates of different origins do not show correlation with virulence attributes and can colonize the urinary tract of mice

Transposon mutagenesis in Proteus mirabilis

An Age and Spatially Structured Population Model forProteus MirabilisSwarm-Colony Development

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