TY - JOUR TI - Heterogeneity in surface sensing suggests a division of labor in Pseudomonas aeruginosa populations AU - Armbruster, Catherine R AU - Lee, Calvin K AU - Parker-Gilham, Jessica AU - de Anda, Jaime AU - Xia, Aiguo AU - Zhao, Kun AU - Murakami, Keiji AU - Tseng, Boo Shan AU - Hoffman, Lucas R AU - Jin, Fan AU - Harwood, Caroline S AU - Wong, Gerard CL AU - Parsek, Matthew R A2 - Persat, Alexandre A2 - Storz, Gisela A2 - Persat, Alexandre VL - 8 PY - 2019 DA - 2019/06/10 SP - e45084 C1 - eLife 2019;8:e45084 DO - 10.7554/eLife.45084 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.45084 AB - The second messenger signaling molecule cyclic diguanylate monophosphate (c-di-GMP) drives the transition between planktonic and biofilm growth in many bacterial species. Pseudomonas aeruginosa has two surface sensing systems that produce c-di-GMP in response to surface adherence. Current thinking in the field is that once cells attach to a surface, they uniformly respond by producing c-di-GMP. Here, we describe how the Wsp system generates heterogeneity in surface sensing, resulting in two physiologically distinct subpopulations of cells. One subpopulation has elevated c-di-GMP and produces biofilm matrix, serving as the founders of initial microcolonies. The other subpopulation has low c-di-GMP and engages in surface motility, allowing for exploration of the surface. We also show that this heterogeneity strongly correlates to surface behavior for descendent cells. Together, our results suggest that after surface attachment, P. aeruginosa engages in a division of labor that persists across generations, accelerating early biofilm formation and surface exploration. KW - Pseudomonas aeruginosa KW - biofilm KW - c-di-gmp KW - surface sensing KW - Wsp system JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -