Affiliation:
1. Institute of Genetics, University of Nottingham, Medical School Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, United Kingdom
2. Department of Life Sciences, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, 562 Nanatsuka, Shobara, Hiroshima 727-0023, Japan
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The
Bdellovibrio
are miniature “living antibiotic” predatory bacteria which invade, reseal, and digest other larger Gram-negative bacteria, including pathogens. Nutrients for the replication of
Bdellovibrio
bacteria come entirely from the digestion of the single invaded bacterium, now called a bdelloplast, which is bound by the original prey outer membrane.
Bdellovibrio
bacteria are efficient digesters of prey cells, yielding on average 4 to 6 progeny from digestion of a single prey cell of a genome size similar to that of the
Bdellovibrio
cell itself. The developmental intrabacterial cycle of
Bdellovibrio
is largely unknown and has never been visualized “live.” Using the latest motorized
xy
stage with a very defined
z
-axis control and engineered periplasmically fluorescent prey allows, for the first time, accurate return and visualization without prey bleaching of developing
Bdellovibrio
cells using solely the inner resources of a prey cell over several hours. We show that
Bdellovibrio
bacteria do not follow the familiar pattern of bacterial cell division by binary fission. Instead, they septate synchronously to produce both odd and even numbers of progeny, even when two separate
Bdellovibrio
cells have invaded and develop within a single prey bacterium, producing two different amounts of progeny. Evolution of this novel septation pattern, allowing odd progeny yields, allows optimal use of the finite prey cell resources to produce maximal replicated, predatory bacteria. When replication is complete,
Bdellovibrio
cells exit the exhausted prey and are seen leaving via discrete pores rather than by breakdown of the entire outer membrane of the prey.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Molecular Biology,Microbiology
Cited by
78 articles.
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