Unintended Laboratory-Driven Evolution Reveals Genetic Requirements for Biofilm Formation by Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough.

ABSTRACT: Biofilms of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are of particular interest as members of this group are culprits in corrosion of industrial metal and concrete pipelines as well as being key players in subsurface metal cycling. Yet the mechanism of biofilm formation by these bacteria has not been determined. Here we show that two supposedly identical wild-type cultures of the SRB Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough maintained in different laboratories have diverged in biofilm formation. From genome resequencing and subsequent mutant analyses, we discovered that a single nucleotide change within DVU1017, the ABC transporter of a type I secretion system (T1SS), was sufficient to eliminate biofilm formation in D. vulgaris Hildenborough. Two T1SS cargo proteins were identified as lik

SUBMITTER: De Leon KB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5646257 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature