Bacterial flagella explore microscale hummocks and hollows to increase adhesion
Name
Friedlander-2013-Bacterial flagella explore micro-scale hummocks and hollows to increase adhesion.pdf
Size
1.2 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
6927be8508108622867522da4cdd12f2
Author(s)
Friedlander, Ronn Samuel
Vlamakis, Hera
Kim, Philseok
Khan, Mughees
Kolter, Roberto
Aizenberg, Joanna
Date Issued
March 2013
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Citation
Friedlander, R. S., H. Vlamakis, P. Kim, M. Khan, R. Kolter, and J. Aizenberg. “Bacterial flagella explore microscale hummocks and hollows to increase adhesion.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, no. 14 (April 2, 2013): 5624-5629.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Biofilms, surface-bound communities of microbes, are economically and medically important due to their pathogenic and obstructive properties. Among the numerous strategies to prevent bacterial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation, surface topography was recently proposed as a highly nonspecific method that does not rely on small-molecule antibacterial compounds, which promote resistance. Here, we provide a detailed investigation of how the introduction of submicrometer crevices to a surface affects attachment of Escherichia coli. These crevices reduce substrate surface area available to the cell body but increase overall surface area. We have found that, during the first 2 h, adhesion to topographic surfaces is significantly reduced compared with flat controls, but this behavior abruptly reverses to significantly increased adhesion at longer exposures. We show that this reversal coincides with bacterially induced wetting transitions and that flagellar filaments aid in adhesion to these wetted topographic surfaces. We demonstrate that flagella are able to reach into crevices, access additional surface area, and produce a dense, fibrous network. Mutants lacking flagella show comparatively reduced adhesion. By varying substrate crevice sizes, we determine the conditions under which having flagella is most advantageous for adhesion. These findings strongly indicate that, in addition to their role in swimming motility, flagella are involved in attachment and can furthermore act as structural elements, enabling bacteria to overcome unfavorable surface topographies. This work contributes insights for the future design of antifouling surfaces and for improved understanding of bacterial behavior in native, structured environments.
MIT Department
Whitaker College of Health Sciences and Technology
Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1219662110
