Microfluidic-based transcriptomics reveal force-independent bacterial rheosensing.

ABSTRACT: Multiple cell types sense fluid flow as an environmental cue. Flow can exert shear force (or stress) on cells, and the prevailing model is that biological flow sensing involves the measurement of shear force^1,2. Here, we provide evidence for force-independent flow sensing in the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A microfluidic-based transcriptomic approach enabled us to discover an operon of P. aeruginosa that is rapidly and robustly upregulated in response to flow. Using a single-cell reporter of this operon, which we name the flow-regulated operon (fro), we establish that P. aeruginosa dynamically tunes gene expression to flow intensity through a process we call rheosensing (as rheo- is Greek for flow). We further show that rheosensing occurs in multicellular biofilms, involve

SUBMITTER: Sanfilippo JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6656604 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature