1 / 10

Bacterial Populations as Multicellular Organisms

Bacterial Populations as Multicellular Organisms. Kathy Lee. INTRODUCTION. 1998 … Scientific American – “Bacteria as Multicellular Organisms” Multicellularity- only considered a specialized adaptive strategy Today. CORE CONCEPTS OF BACTERIAL MULTICELLULARITY.

edan-wade
Download Presentation

Bacterial Populations as Multicellular Organisms

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Bacterial Populations as Multicellular Organisms Kathy Lee

  2. INTRODUCTION • 1998 … Scientific American – “Bacteria as Multicellular Organisms” • Multicellularity- only considered a specialized adaptive strategy • Today

  3. CORE CONCEPTS OF BACTERIAL MULTICELLULARITY • Communication and decision-making capabilities • Examples of communication and behaviors • Derive adaptive benefits

  4. INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATION • Diverse Classes of Signal Molecules • AHL signaling • Oligopeptides • Differences between AHL signaling and Oligopeptides • Not all the small diffusible molecules are signals • Highly diversified chemical structures

  5. Signal Response Systems: Interpreting Chemical Messages in an Informationally Rich Environment • Each cell can make an appropriate decision and adjust its activity • Myxobacteria and Bacillus – two good examples of complex signal-processing networks • Complexities will prove to be typical

  6. COORDINATED MULTICELLULAR BEHAVIORS – A GENERAL BACTERIAL TRAIT • Bacteria differentiate biochemically and morphologically and their interactions • Colony development and collective motility phenomena in bacteria

  7. E.coli Colony Development • Cell-cell interactions occur after the first cell division • B. subtilis Colony Development • Proteus and Serratia Swarming • “Swarming” is the process of rapid migration over a surface • Granule Development in Anaerobic Bioreactors • Microbial Consortia

  8. ADAPTIVE BENEFITS FROM MULTICELLULAR COOPERATION • More efficient proliferation from cellular division • Access to resources and niches that require a critical mass and cannot effectively be utilized by isolated cells • Collective defense against antagonists that eliminate isolated cells

  9. Optimization of population survival by differentiation into distinct cell types • Sporulation and Formation of Dormant Cells • Exchange of Genetic Information • Mutation

  10. CONCLUSION • Bacterial multicellularity deepens our appreciation of the information-processing capabilities of individual bacterial cells.

More Related