Temperature-regulated heterogeneous extracellular matrix gene expression defines biofilm morphology in Clostridium perfringens.

ABSTRACT: Cells in biofilms dynamically adapt to surrounding environmental conditions, which alters biofilm architecture. The obligate anaerobic pathogen Clostridium perfringens shows different biofilm structures in different temperatures. Here we find that the temperature-regulated production of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) is necessary for morphological changes in biofilms. We identify BsaA proteins as an EPS matrix necessary for pellicle biofilm formation at lower temperature and find that extracellularly secreted BsaA protein forms filamentous polymers. We show that sipW-bsaA operon expression is bimodal, and the EPS-producing population size is increased at a lower temperature. This heterogeneous expression of the EPS gene requires a two-component system. We find that EPS-producing c

SUBMITTER: Obana N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7395162 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature