Burkholderia BcpA mediates biofilm formation independently of interbacterial contact-dependent growth inhibition.

ABSTRACT: Contact-dependent growth inhibition (CDI) is a phenomenon in which Gram-negative bacteria use the toxic C-terminus of a large surface-exposed exoprotein to inhibit the growth of susceptible bacteria upon cell-cell contact. Little is known about when and where bacteria express the genes encoding CDI system proteins and how these systems contribute to the survival of bacteria in their natural niche. Here we establish that, in addition to mediating interbacterial competition, the Burkholderia thailandensis CDI system exoprotein BcpA is required for biofilm development. We also provide evidence that the catalytic activity of BcpA and extracellular DNA are required for the characteristic biofilm pillars to form. We show using a bcpA-gfp fusion that within the biofilm, expression of the CDI syst

SUBMITTER: Garcia EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3786370 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature