Diversification of gene expression in Escherichia coli biofilms

Graduate Students Mini-Symposium

  • Datum: 13.02.2017
  • Uhrzeit: 13:50
  • Vortragende(r): Olga Besharova
  • MPI / Systems and Synthetic Microbiology
  • Ort: MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology
  • Raum: Lecture hall
  • Gastgeber: Prof. Dr. Victor Sourjik
  • Kontakt: victor.sourjik@synmikro.mpi-marburg.mpg.de

Cellular differentiation within a biofilm is a commonly accepted concept but it remains largely unclear when, where and how exactly such differentiation arises. Here we used fluorescent reporters to quantitatively analyze spatio-temporal expression patterns of several groups of genes during the formation of submerged Escherichia coli biofilms in an open static system. We demonstrate that diversification of gene expression leads to emergence of at least three distinct subpopulations of E. coli, which differ in their levels of curli and flagella expression, and in the activity of the stationary phase sigma factor σS.

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