Convergent evolution of hyperswarming leads to impaired biofilm formation in pathogenic bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Most bacteria in nature live in surface-associated communities rather than planktonic populations. Nonetheless, how surface-associated environments shape bacterial evolutionary adaptation remains poorly understood. Here, we show that subjecting Pseudomonas aeruginosa to repeated rounds of swarming, a collective form of surface migration, drives remarkable parallel evolution toward a hyperswarmer phenotype. In all independently evolved hyperswarmers, the reproducible hyperswarming phenotype is caused by parallel point mutations in a flagellar synthesis regulator, FleN, which locks the naturally monoflagellated bacteria in a multiflagellated state and confers a growth rate-independent advantage in swarming. Although hyperswarmers outcompete the ancestral strain in swarming competitions, they

SUBMITTER: van Ditmarsch D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3770465 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature