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J Bacteriol, May 1998, p. 2306-2311, Vol. 180, No. 9
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

S-Layered Aneurinibacillus and Bacillus spp. Are Susceptible to the Lytic Action of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Membrane Vesicles

J. L. Kadurugamuwa,1 A. Mayer,1,2 P. Messner,2 M. Sára,2 U. B. Sleytr,2 and T. J. Beveridge1,*

Canadian Bacterial Disease Network and Department of Microbiology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1,1 and Zentrum für Ultrastrukturforschung and Ludwig Boltzmann-Institut für Molekulare Nanotechnologie, Universität für Bodenkultur, A-1180 Vienna, Austria2

Received 2 December 1997/Accepted 27 February 1998

When S-layered strains of Bacillus stearothermophilus and Aneurinibacillus thermoaerophilus, possessing S-layers of different lattice type and lattice constant as well as S-(glyco)protein chemistry, and isogenic S-layerless variants were subjected to membrane vesicles (MVs) from P. aeruginosa during plaque assays on plates or CFU measurements on cell suspensions, all bacterial types lysed. Electron microscopy of negative stains, thin sections, and immunogold-labelled MV preparations revealed that the vesicles adhered to all bacterial surfaces, broke open, and digested the underlying peptidoglycan-containing cell wall of all cell types. Reassembled S-layer did not appear to be affected by MVs, and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis showed that the S-(glyco)proteins remained intact. meso-Diaminopimelic acid, as a peptidoglycan breakdown product, was found in all culture supernatants after MV attack. These results suggest that even though MVs are much larger than the channels which penetrate these proteinaceous arrays, S-layers on gram-positive bacteria do not form a defensive barrier against the lytic action of MVs. The primary mode of attack is by the liberation from the MVs of a peptidoglycan hydrolase, which penetrates through the S-layer to digest the underlying peptidoglycan-containing cell wall. The S-layer is not affected by MV protease.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1. Phone: (519) 824-4120, ext. 3366. Fax: (519) 837-1802. E-mail: tjb{at}micro.uoguelph.ca.

J Bacteriol, May 1998, p. 2306-2311, Vol. 180, No. 9
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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