Global discovery of colonization determinants in the squid symbiont Vibrio fischeri.

ABSTRACT: Animal epithelial tissue becomes reproducibly colonized by specific environmental bacteria. The bacteria (microbiota) perform critical functions for the host's tissue development, immune system development, and nutrition; yet the processes by which bacterial diversity in the environment is selected to assemble the correct communities in the host are unclear. To understand the molecular determinants of microbiota selection, we examined colonization of a simplified model in which the light organ of Euprymna scolopes squid is colonized exclusively by Vibrio fischeri bacteria. We applied high-throughput insertion sequencing to identify which bacterial genes are required during host colonization. A library of over 41,000 unique transposon insertions was analyzed before and after colonization of

SUBMITTER: Brooks JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4260577 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature