Interspecies interactions induce exploratory motility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
- University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, United States
- The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, United States
Abstract
Microbes often live in multispecies communities where interactions among community members impact both the individual constituents and the surrounding environment. Here, we developed a system to visualize interspecies behaviors at initial encounters. By imaging two prevalent pathogens known to be coisolated from chronic illnesses, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, we observed P. aeruginosa can modify surface motility in response to secreted factors from S. aureus. Upon sensing S. aureus, P. aeruginosa transitioned from collective to single-cell motility with an associated increase in speed and directedness - a behavior we refer to as 'exploratory motility'. Explorer cells moved preferentially towards S. aureus and invaded S. aureus colonies through the action of the type IV pili. These studies reveal previously undescribed motility behaviors and lend insight into how P. aeruginosa senses and responds to other species. Identifying strategies to harness these interactions may open avenues for new antimicrobial strategies.
Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
Article and author information
Author details
Dominique H Limoli
Funding
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (Postdoctoral Fellowship LIMOLI15F0)
- Dominique H Limoli
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF Postdoc-to-Faculty Transition Award LIMOLI18F5)
- Dominique H Limoli
National Institutes of Health (Grant R37 AI83256)
- George O'Toole
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2019, Limoli et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Interspecies interactions induce exploratory motility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
eLife 8:e47365.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47365
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