The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa senses and gradually responds to interspecific competition for iron.

ABSTRACT: Phenotypic plasticity in response to competition is a well-described phenomenon in higher organisms. Here, we show that also bacteria have the ability to sense the presence of competitors and mount fine-tuned responses to match prevailing levels of competition. In our experiments, we studied interspecific competition for iron between the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) and its competitor Burkholderia cenocepacia (BC). We focused on the ability of PA to phenotypically adjust the production of pyoverdine, an iron-scavenging siderophore. We found that PA upregulates pyoverdine production early on during competition under condition of low iron availability. This plastic upregulation was fine-tuned in response to the level of competition imposed by BC, and seems to confer a relative fitne

SUBMITTER: Leinweber A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6314444 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature