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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2004, p. 4159-4167, Vol. 186, No. 13
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.13.4159-4167.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Extracellular Proteolytic Activity Plays a Central Role in Swarming Motility in Bacillus subtilis

Novozymes Biotech, Inc.,¹ Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Group,² Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, California 95616³

Received 12 February 2004/ Accepted 26 March 2004

Natural isolates of Bacillus subtilis exhibit a robust multicellular behavior known as swarming. A form of motility, swarming is characterized by a rapid, coordinated progression of a bacterial population across a surface. As a collective bacterial process, swarming is often associated with biofilm formation and has been linked to virulence factor expression in pathogenic bacteria. While the swarming phenotype has been well documented for Bacillus species, an understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible remains largely isolated to gram-negative bacteria. To better understand how swarming is controlled in members of the genus Bacillus, we investigated the effect of a series of gene deletions on swarm motility. Our analysis revealed that a strain deficient for the production of surfactin and extracellular proteolytic activity did not swarm or form biofilm. While it is known that surfactin, a lipoprotein surfactant, functions in swarming motility by reducing surface tension, this is the first report demonstrating that general extracellular protease activity also has an important function. These results not only help to define the factors involved in eliciting swarm migration but support the idea that swarming and biofilm formation may have overlapping control mechanisms.

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