Previous Article | Next Article 
Journal of Bacteriology, June 2002, p. 3406-3410, Vol. 184, No. 12
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.12.3406-3410.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Catabolite Repression of Escherichia coli Biofilm Formation
Debra W. Jackson, Jerry W. Simecka, and Tony Romeo*
Department of Molecular Biology and Immunology, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas 76107-2699
Received 12 December 2001/
Accepted 24 March 2002

ABSTRACT
Biofilm formation was repressed by glucose in several species
of
Enterobacteriaceae. In
Escherichia coli, this effect was
mediated at least in part by cyclic AMP (cAMP)-cAMP receptor
protein. A temporal role for cAMP in biofilm development was
indicated by the finding that glucose addition after

24 h failed
to repress and generally activated biofilm formation.

INTRODUCTION
In the natural environment, bacteria predominantly exist in
matrix-enclosed, sessile communities referred to as biofilms
(
4). Biofilms protect cells from deleterious conditions, such
as attack by the mammalian immune system (
5). Biofilms are complex
assemblages of cells which exhibit channels and pillars that
are thought to permit the exchange of nutrients and wastes.
A recent model for biofilm development proposes that it is initiated
by the attachment of individual cells to a surface, followed
by their migration and replication to form microcolonies that
eventually produce the mature biofilm (
20,
22). A variety of
extracellular molecules and surface organelles participate in
E. coli biofilm formation (
6,
7,
23,
33).
Central carbon flux and its regulation may represent key features of bacterial biofilm development. We recently reported that the RNA binding protein CsrA of Escherichia coli represses biofilm formation and activates biofilm dispersal (13). The effect of CsrA on biofilm formation is mediated largely through its regulatory role in central carbon flux and intracellular glycogen synthesis and catabolism (17, 18, 24, 25, 28, 34). The influence of CsrA is substantially greater than that of other regulators of E. coli biofilm formation, OmpR, RpoS, or the Cpx two-component system (1, 8, 33). Studies with other species have revealed that the global regulator Crc (catabolite repression control) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa activates biofilm formation (21), and the expression of the staphylococcal biofilm polysaccharide PIA (polysaccharide intracellular adhesin) requires a functional glucose phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (15).
During studies of biofilm formation, we noted that the addition of glucose to media was inhibitory. To substantiate this observation, E. coli K-12 parental strains MG1655, MC4100, and W3110 and their isogenic csrA mutants (Table 1) were grown in microtiter wells in colony-forming antigen (CFA) medium (9) with or without glucose (0.2% wt/vol), and biofilm was quantitated after 24 h of growth using crystal violet staining (A630), as described previously (13) (Fig. 1A). Essentially identical results were observed in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium (19) (data not shown). These and other biofilm experiments described in this article were performed at least in triplicate with three samples per experiment, and data were analyzed by Tukey multigroup analysis (Stat View; SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C.). Glucose caused a statistically significant decrease in biofilm formation in every case, which varied from
30 to 95% reduction, depending primarily on the strain background but also on the medium. Biofilm formation by related clinical isolates, including urinary catheter isolates of E. coli, Citrobacter freundii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae and the intestinal pathogens Salmonella enterica Typhimurium and E. coli O157:H7, was also repressed by glucose in CFA medium (Fig. 1B) or LB medium (data not shown). These effects generally varied from
50 to 75%. The three urinary catheter isolates exhibited similar repression by glucose in artificial urine medium (13), which mimics the urinary tract environment (data not shown).
The glucose effect, or catabolite repression, is mediated in
part by cyclic AMP (cAMP) and cAMP receptor protein (CRP) in
E. coli (reviewed in references
3 and
29). In classical catabolite
repression, transport of glucose leads to dephosphorylation
of IIA
Glc of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase
system, which prevents this protein from activating membrane-bound
adenylate cyclase (Cya). The binding of cAMP to CRP forms a
complex that interacts specifically and with high affinity to
its
cis elements in the promoter regions of cAMP-regulated genes
and thereby regulates transcription. CRP levels also decline
during catabolite repression (
12,
32). Through these mechanisms,
glucose affects the expression of genes located throughout the
genome.
To determine whether biofilm formation was subject to classical catabolite repression by cAMP and CRP, the effects of crp and cya deletions and exogenous cAMP on biofilm formation by MG1655 and its csrA mutant were examined. Because cAMP and CRP may have pleiotropic effects on growth, the growth curves of these strains were compared in LB medium (with 0.2% glucose) or CFA medium (lacking glucose) at 26°C with shaking at 280 rpm. Growth rates in LB medium containing 0.2% glucose were unaffected by cya or crp mutations in MG1655 and very slightly decreased in the csrA mutant background (Fig. 2A). However, all of the cya and crp mutants exhibited substantial growth defects in CFA medium (Fig. 2B). Because of these effects, biofilm formation was corrected for total cell protein to yield specific biofilm values (A630 per milligram of protein) in experiments with cya and crp mutants. Protein assays on cultures containing planktonic and sessile cells were conducted as described previously (13).
The disruption of
crp in MG1655 or its
csrA mutant significantly
decreased specific biofilm formation (Fig.
3). The effect of
crp was

30% in MG1655 and

75% in the
csrA mutant both in CFA
medium (Fig.
3) and in LB medium containing 0.2% glucose (data
not shown). The magnitudes of these effects were comparable
to those of the glucose effects on these strains (Fig.
1). Disruption
of
cya also decreased biofilm formation in these strains (Fig.
4). The addition of cAMP (2 or 5 mM) to the growth medium of
cya mutants significantly increased specific biofilm formation
(about two- to fivefold) in all experiments, and in most cases
it increased biofilm formation by
cya wild-type strains. Taken
together, these results reveal that glucose effects on biofilm
formation in
E. coli are mediated at least in part by the classical
catabolite repression system, i.e., cAMP and CRP.
We previously evaluated the time courses of biofilm formation
by MG1655 and its
csrA mutant, TRMG1655, and observed that biofilm
accumulated considerably beyond 24 h in both strains (
13). Therefore,
a final study was conducted to assess the temporal effects of
catabolite repression on biofilm formed by MG1655 and its
csrA mutant, TRMG1655 (Fig.
5). In this experiment, 0.2% glucose
(wt/vol, final concentration) was added to cultures at various
times during growth, and biofilm was assayed at 24 or 48 h.
The presence of glucose at the time of inoculation led to statistically
significant inhibition in every case (Fig.
5A, C, E, and G).
Thereafter, glucose effects became progressively weaker. One
of the 24-h biofilms, that of TRMG1655 in CFA medium, no longer
was inhibited but exhibited a modest yet statistically significant
increase when glucose was added at 12 h (Fig.
5C). The addition
of glucose after 24 h invariably failed to inhibit biofilm formation
at 48 h. In fact, glucose addition after 24 h tended to increase
biofilm formation, with the exception of TRMG1655 growing in
LB medium. These observations suggest that the cAMP-dependent
steps of biofilm development are completed by 24 h of growth
under these conditions.

Conclusions.
Several global regulatory factors influence biofilm development
in
E. coli. The most striking effects to have been recognized
thus far are those of CsrA (
13), while those of cAMP-CRP and
the other regulators (
1,
8,
33) are more modest. Previous studies
demonstrated that cAMP-CRP activates the expression of certain
operons involved in biofilm formation,
flhDC, which encodes
the activator protein for the flagellar cascade of gene expression
(
23,
31), and
glgCAP, which encodes glycogen biosynthetic and
degradative enzymes (
13,
26,
27). However, the relative contributions
of these or other genes to the observed catabolite repression
remain to be determined. Six
E. coli K-12 strains and five pathogens,
representing four genera of
Enterobacteriaceae, exhibited glucose
inhibition of biofilm formation, suggesting that catabolite
repression of biofilm development is a common theme in this
family of bacteria. While cAMP exhibits a relatively broad phylogenetic
distribution (
3), its role in biofilm formation is unknown outside
of the
Enterobacteriaceae. Interestingly, the cAMP-independent
catabolite repression control protein Crc of
P. aeruginosa is
essential for biofilm formation (
21). Perhaps Crc and cAMP-CRP
represent evolutionarily convergent regulatory features of biofilm
development in the
Pseudomonadaceae and the
Enterobacteriaceae,
respectively.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge gifts of strains from M. Cashel, C.
Gross, M. Hammar, S. Garges, R. E. Wolf, Jr., J. R. Johnson,
and J. W. Foster and manuscript critique by M. E. Hart.
This study was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (MCB-9726197).

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology and Immunology, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107-2699. Phone: (817) 735-2121. Fax: (817) 735-2118. E-mail:
tromeo{at}hsc.unt.edu.


REFERENCES
1
- Adams, J. L., and R. J. McLean. 1999. Impact of rpoS deletion on Escherichia coli biofilms. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65:4285-4287.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2
- Altier, C., M. Suyemoto, and S. D. Lawhon. 2000. Regulation of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium invasion genes by csrA. Infect. Immun. 68:6790-6797.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
3
- Botsford, J. L., and J. G. Harman. 1992. Cyclic AMP in prokaryotes. Microbiol. Rev. 56:100-122.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
4
- Costerton, J. W., Z. Lewandowski, D. E. Caldwell, D. R. Korber, and H. M. Lappin-Scott. 1995. Microbial biofilms. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 49:711-745.[CrossRef][Medline]
5
- Costerton, J. W., P. S. Stewart, and E. P. Greenberg. 1999. Bacterial biofilms: a common cause of persistent infections. Science 284:1318-1322.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
6
- Danese, P., L. A. Pratt, and R. Kolter. 2000. Exopolysaccharide production is required for development of Escherichia coli K-12 biofilm architecture. J. Bacteriol. 182:3593-3596.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
7
- Danese, P., L. A. Pratt, S. L. Dove, and R. Kolter. 2000. The outer membrane protein, antigen 43, mediates cell-to-cell interactions within Escherichia coli biofilms. Mol. Microbiol. 37:424-432.[CrossRef][Medline]
8
- Dorel, C., O. Vidal, C. Prigent-Combaret, I. Vallet, and P. Lejeune. 1999. Involvement of the Cpx signal transduction pathway of E. coli in biofilm formation. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 178:169-175.[CrossRef][Medline]
9
- Evans, D. G., D. J. Evans, Jr., and W. Tjoa. 1977. Hemagglutination of human group A erythrocytes by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli isolated from adults with diarrhea: correlation with colonization factor. Infect. Immun. 18:330-337.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
10
- Guerinot, M. L., and B. K. Chelm. 1984. Isolation and expression of the Bradyrhizobium japonicum adenylate cyclase gene (cya) in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 159:1068-1071.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
11
- Hammar, M., A. Arnquivist, Z. Bian, A. Olsén, and S. Nomark. 1995. Expression of two csg operons is required for production of fibronectin- and Congo red-binding curli polymers in Escherichia coli K-12. Mol. Microbiol. 18:661-670.[CrossRef][Medline]
12
- Ishizuka, H., A. Hanamura, T. Kunimura, and H. Aiba. 1993. A lowered concentration of cAMP receptor protein caused by glucose is an important determinant for catabolite repression in Escherichia coli. Mol. Microbiol. 10:341-350.[Medline]
13
- Jackson, D. W., K. Suzushi, L. Oakford, J. W. Simecka, M. E. Hart, and T. Romeo. 2002. Biofilm formation and dispersal under the influence of the global regulator CsrA of Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 184:290-301.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
14
- Johnson, J. R., P. Delvari, and M. Azar. 1999. Activities of a nitrofurazone-containing urinary catheter and a silver hydrogel catheter against multidrug-resistant bacteria characteristic of catheter-associated urinary tract infection. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 43:2990-2995.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
15
- Kiel, K., H. Rohde, J. K. M. Knobloch, and D. Mach. 2002. Overexpression of PIA in Staphylococcus epidermidis is inhibited by inactivation of PTS glucose permease GlcA or its regulating antiterminator GlcT. Int. J. Med. Microbiol. 291(Suppl. 32.):V88.
16
- Lin, J., M. P. Smith, K. C. Chapin, H. S. Baik, G. N. Bennett, and J. W. Foster. 1996. Mechanisms of acid resistance in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 62:3094-3100.[Abstract]
17
- Liu, M. Y., and T. Romeo. 1997. The global regulator CsrA of Escherichia coli is a specific mRNA-binding protein. J. Bacteriol. 179:4639-4642.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
18
- Liu, M. Y., H. Yang, and T. Romeo. 1995. The product of the pleiotropic Escherichia coli gene csrA modulates glycogen biosynthesis via effects on mRNA stability. J. Bacteriol. 177:2663-2672.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
19
- Miller, J. H. 1972. Experiments in molecular genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
20
- O'Toole, G. A., and R. Kolter. 1998. Flagellar and twitching motility are necessary for Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm development. Mol. Microbiol. 30:295-304.[CrossRef][Medline]
21
- O'Toole, G. A., K. A. Gibbs, P. W. Hager, P. V. Phibbs, Jr., and R. Kolter. 2000. The global carbon metabolism regulator Crc is a component of a signal transduction pathway required for biofilm development by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Bacteriol. 182:425-431.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
22
- Pratt, L. A., and R. Kolter. 1999. Genetic analyses of bacterial biofilm formation. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 2:598-603.[CrossRef][Medline]
23
- Pratt, L. A., and R. Kolter. 1998. Genetic analysis of Escherichia coli biofilm formation: roles of flagella, motility, chemotaxis and type I pili. Mol. Microbiol. 30:285-293.[CrossRef][Medline]
24
- Romeo, T. 1998. Global regulation by the small RNA-binding protein CsrA and the non-coding RNA molecule CsrB. Mol. Microbiol. 29:1321-1330.[CrossRef][Medline]
25
- Romeo, T., M. Gong, M. Y. Liu, and A.-M. Brun-Zinkernagel. 1993. Identification and molecular characterization of csrA, a pleiotropic gene from Escherichia coli that affects glycogen biosynthesis, gluconeogenesis, cell size, and surface properties. J. Bacteriol. 175:4744-4755.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
26
- Romeo, T., J. Black, and J. Preiss. 1990. Genetic regulation of glycogen synthesis in Escherichia coli: in vivo effects of the catabolite repression and stringent response systems in glg gene expression. Curr. Microbiol. 21:131-137.
27
- Romeo, T., and J. Preiss. 1989. Genetic regulation of glycogen biosynthesis in Escherichia coli: in vitro effects of cyclic AMP and guanosine 5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate and analysis of in vivo transcripts. J. Bacteriol. 171:2773-2782.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
28
- Sabnis, N., H. Yang, and T. Romeo. 1995. Pleiotropic regulation of central carbohydrate metabolism in Escherichia coli via the gene csrA. J. Biol. Chem. 270:29096-29104.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
29
- Saier, M. H., Jr., T. M. Ramseier, and J. Reizer. 1996. Regulation of carbon utilization, p. 1325-1343. In F. C. Neidhardt, R. Curtiss III, J. L. Ingraham, E. C. C. Lin, K. B. Low, B. Magasanik, W. S. Reznikoff, M. Riley, M. Schaechter, and H. E. Umbarger (ed.), Escherichia coli and Salmonella: cellular and molecular biology, 2nd ed. ASM Press, Washington, D.C.
30
- Singer, M., T. A. Baker, G. Schnitzler, S. M. Deischel, M. Goel, W. Dove, K. J. Jaacks, A. D. Grossman, J. W. Erickson, and C. A. Gross. 1989. A collection of strains containing genetically linked alternating antibiotic resistance elements for genetic mapping of Escherichia coli. Microbiol. Rev. 53:1-24.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
31
- Soutourina, O., A. Kolb, E. Krin, C. Laurent-Winter, S. Rimsky, A. Danchin, and P. Bertin. 1999. Multiple control of flagellum biosynthesis in Escherichia coli: role of H-NS protein and the cyclic AMP-catabolite activator protein complex in transcription of the flhDC master operon. J. Bacteriol. 181:7500-7508.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
32
- Tagami, H., T. Inada, T. Kunimura, and H. Aiba. 1995. Glucose lowers CRP* levels resulting in repression of the lac operon in cells lacking cAMP. Mol. Microbiol. 17:251-258.[Medline]
33
- Vidal, O., R. Longin, C. Prigent-Combaret, C. Dorel, M. Hooreman, and P. Lejeune. 1998. Isolation of an Escherichia coli K-12 mutant strain able to form biofilms on inert surfaces: involvement of a new ompR allele that increases curli expression. J. Bacteriol. 180:2442-2449.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
34
- Yang, H., M. Y. Liu, and T. Romeo. 1996. Coordinate genetic regulation of glycogen catabolism and biosynthesis in Escherichia coli via the CsrA gene product. J. Bacteriol. 178:1012-1017.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
Journal of Bacteriology, June 2002, p. 3406-3410, Vol. 184, No. 12
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.12.3406-3410.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Karatan, E., Watnick, P.
(2009). Signals, Regulatory Networks, and Materials That Build and Break Bacterial Biofilms. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
73: 310-347
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Fong, J. C. N., Yildiz, F. H.
(2008). Interplay between Cyclic AMP-Cyclic AMP Receptor Protein and Cyclic di-GMP Signaling in Vibrio cholerae Biofilm Formation. J. Bacteriol.
190: 6646-6659
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Kalivoda, E. J., Stella, N. A., O'Dee, D. M., Nau, G. J., Shanks, R. M. Q.
(2008). The Cyclic AMP-Dependent Catabolite Repression System of Serratia marcescens Mediates Biofilm Formation through Regulation of Type 1 Fimbriae. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
74: 3461-3470
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Houot, L., Watnick, P. I.
(2008). A Novel Role for Enzyme I of the Vibrio cholerae Phosphoenolpyruvate Phosphotransferase System in Regulation of Growth in a Biofilm. J. Bacteriol.
190: 311-320
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Goller, C., Wang, X., Itoh, Y., Romeo, T.
(2006). The Cation-Responsive Protein NhaR of Escherichia coli Activates pgaABCD Transcription, Required for Production of the Biofilm Adhesin Poly-{beta}-1,6-N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine. J. Bacteriol.
188: 8022-8032
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Teplitski, M., Al-Agely, A., Ahmer, B. M. M.
(2006). Contribution of the SirA regulon to biofilm formation in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium.. Microbiology
152: 3411-3424
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Domka, J., Lee, J., Wood, T. K.
(2006). YliH (BssR) and YceP (BssS) Regulate Escherichia coli K-12 Biofilm Formation by Influencing Cell Signaling. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
72: 2449-2459
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Beloin, C., Michaelis, K., Lindner, K., Landini, P., Hacker, J., Ghigo, J.-M., Dobrindt, U.
(2006). The Transcriptional Antiterminator RfaH Represses Biofilm Formation in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol.
188: 1316-1331
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Agladze, K., Wang, X., Romeo, T.
(2005). Spatial Periodicity of Escherichia coli K-12 Biofilm Microstructure Initiates during a Reversible, Polar Attachment Phase of Development and Requires the Polysaccharide Adhesin PGA. J. Bacteriol.
187: 8237-8246
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Tomenius, H., Pernestig, A.-K., Mendez-Catala, C. F., Georgellis, D., Normark, S., Melefors, O.
(2005). Genetic and Functional Characterization of the Escherichia coli BarA-UvrY Two-Component System: Point Mutations in the HAMP Linker of the BarA Sensor Give a Dominant-Negative Phenotype. J. Bacteriol.
187: 7317-7324
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Karaolis, D. K. R., Rashid, M. H., Chythanya, R., Luo, W., Hyodo, M., Hayakawa, Y.
(2005). c-di-GMP (3'-5'-Cyclic Diguanylic Acid) Inhibits Staphylococcus aureus Cell-Cell Interactions and Biofilm Formation. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.
49: 1029-1038
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Wang, X., Preston, J. F. III, Romeo, T.
(2004). The pgaABCD Locus of Escherichia coli Promotes the Synthesis of a Polysaccharide Adhesin Required for Biofilm Formation. J. Bacteriol.
186: 2724-2734
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Loo, C. Y., Mitrakul, K., Voss, I. B., Hughes, C. V., Ganeshkumar, N.
(2003). Involvement of an Inducible Fructose Phosphotransferase Operon in Streptococcus gordonii Biofilm Formation. J. Bacteriol.
185: 6241-6254
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Agladze, K., Jackson, D., Romeo, T.
(2003). Periodicity of Cell Attachment Patterns during Escherichia coli Biofilm Development. J. Bacteriol.
185: 5632-5638
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Stanley, N. R., Britton, R. A., Grossman, A. D., Lazazzera, B. A.
(2003). Identification of Catabolite Repression as a Physiological Regulator of Biofilm Formation by Bacillus subtilis by Use of DNA Microarrays. J. Bacteriol.
185: 1951-1957
[Abstract]
[Full Text]