Fatty Acid Synthesis Knockdown Promotes Biofilm Wrinkling and Inhibits Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.

ABSTRACT: Many bacterial species typically live in complex three-dimensional biofilms, yet much remains unknown about differences in essential processes between nonbiofilm and biofilm lifestyles. Here, we created a CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) library of knockdown strains covering all known essential genes in the biofilm-forming Bacillus subtilis strain NCIB 3610 and investigated growth, biofilm colony wrinkling, and sporulation phenotypes of the knockdown library. First, we showed that gene essentiality is largely conserved between liquid and surface growth and between two media. Second, we quantified biofilm colony wrinkling using a custom image analysis algorithm and found that fatty acid synthesis and DNA gyrase knockdown strains exhibited increased wrinkling independent of biofilm matrix gene

SUBMITTER: Arjes HA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9600695 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature