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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2000, p. 425-431, Vol. 182, No. 2
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The Global Carbon Metabolism Regulator Crc Is a Component of a Signal Transduction Pathway Required for Biofilm Development by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

George A. O'Toole,1,2,* Karine A. Gibbs,2 Paul W. Hager,3 Paul V. Phibbs Jr.,3 and Roberto Kolter2

Department of Microbiology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire 037551; Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 021152; and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 278583

Received 26 April 1999/Accepted 14 October 1999

The transition from a planktonic (free-swimming) existence to growth attached to a surface in a biofilm occurs in response to environmental factors, including the availability of nutrients. We show that the catabolite repression control (Crc) protein, which plays a role in the regulation of carbon metabolism, is necessary for biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using phase-contrast microscopy, we found that a crc mutant only makes a dispersed monolayer of cells on a plastic surface but does not develop the dense monolayer punctuated by microcolonies typical of the wild-type strain. This is a phenotype identical to that observed in mutants defective in type IV pilus biogenesis. Consistent with this observation, crc mutants are defective in type IV pilus-mediated twitching motility. We show that this defect in type IV pilus function is due (at least in part) to a decrease in pilA (pilin) transcription. We propose that nutritional cues are integrated by Crc as part of a signal transduction pathway that regulates biofilm development.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Dartmouth Medical School, Rm. 202, Vail Bldg., Hanover, NH 03755. Phone: (603) 650-1248. Fax: (603) 650-1318. E-mail: George.O'Toole{at}Dartmouth.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, January 2000, p. 425-431, Vol. 182, No. 2
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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