JB Try JVI Online
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Webb, J. S.
Right arrow Articles by Kjelleberg, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Webb, J. S.
Right arrow Articles by Kjelleberg, S.
Right arrowPubmed/NCBI databases
*Substance via MeSH
Journal of Bacteriology, August 2003, p. 4585-4592, Vol. 185, No. 15
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.15.4585-4592.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Cell Death in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Development

Jeremy S. Webb,1* Lyndal S. Thompson,1 Sally James,1 Tim Charlton,1 Tim Tolker-Nielsen,2 Birgit Koch,2 Michael Givskov,2 and Staffan Kjelleberg1

School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences and Centre for Marine Biofouling and Bio-innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia,1 Biocentrum, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark2

Received 3 March 2003/ Accepted 6 May 2003

Bacteria growing in biofilms often develop multicellular, three-dimensional structures known as microcolonies. Complex differentiation within biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa occurs, leading to the creation of voids inside microcolonies and to the dispersal of cells from within these voids. However, key developmental processes regulating these events are poorly understood. A normal component of multicellular development is cell death. Here we report that a repeatable pattern of cell death and lysis occurs in biofilms of P. aeruginosa during the normal course of development. Cell death occurred with temporal and spatial organization within biofilms, inside microcolonies, when the biofilms were allowed to develop in continuous-culture flow cells. A subpopulation of viable cells was always observed in these regions. During the onset of biofilm killing and during biofilm development thereafter, a bacteriophage capable of superinfecting and lysing the P. aeruginosa parent strain was detected in the fluid effluent from the biofilm. The bacteriophage implicated in biofilm killing was closely related to the filamentous phage Pf1 and existed as a prophage within the genome of P. aeruginosa. We propose that prophage-mediated cell death is an important mechanism of differentiation inside microcolonies that facilitates dispersal of a subpopulation of surviving cells.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences and Centre for Marine Biofouling and Bio-innovation, Biological Sciences Building, University of New South Wales, Randwick, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. Phone: 61 (2) 9385 2092. Fax: 61 (2) 9385 1779. E-mail: J.S.Webb{at}unsw.edu.au.

Journal of Bacteriology, August 2003, p. 4585-4592, Vol. 185, No. 15
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.15.4585-4592.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. Infect. Immun. Eukaryot. Cell
Mol. Cell. Biol. J. Virol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2003 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.