Phenotypic Heterogeneity of the Insect Pathogen Photorhabdus luminescens: Insights into the Fate of Secondary Cells.

ABSTRACT: Photorhabdus luminescens is a Gram-negative bacterium that lives in symbiosis with soil nematodes and is simultaneously highly pathogenic toward insects. The bacteria exist in two phenotypically different forms, designated primary (1°) and secondary (2°) cells. Yet unknown environmental stimuli as well as global stress conditions induce phenotypic switching of up to 50% of 1° cells to 2° cells. An important difference between the two phenotypic forms is that 2° cells are unable to live in symbiosis with nematodes and are therefore believed to remain in the soil after a successful infection cycle. In this work, we performed a transcriptomic analysis to highlight and better understand the role of 2° cells and their putative ability to adapt to living in soil. We could confirm that the

SUBMITTER: Eckstein S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6821960 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature