Escherichia coli Remodels the Chemotaxis Pathway for Swarming.

ABSTRACT: Many flagellated bacteria "swarm" over a solid surface as a dense consortium. In different bacteria, swarming is facilitated by several alterations such as those corresponding to increased flagellum numbers, special stator proteins, or secreted surfactants. We report here a change in the chemosensory physiology of swarming Escherichia coli which alters its normal "run tumble" bias. E. coli bacteria taken from a swarm exhibit more highly extended runs (low tumble bias) and higher speeds than E. coli bacteria swimming individually in a liquid medium. The stability of the signaling protein CheZ is higher in swarmers, consistent with the observed elevation of CheZ levels and with the low tumble bias. We show that the tumble bias displayed by wild-type swarmers is the optim

SUBMITTER: Partridge JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6426603 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature