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Bacterial growth and form under mechanical compression

A combination of physical and chemical processes is involved in determining the bacterial cell shape. In standard medium, Escherichia coli cells are rod-shaped, and maintain a constant diameter during exponential growth. Here, we demonstrate that by applying compressive forces to growing E. coli, ce...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Si, Fangwei, Li, Bo, Margolin, William, Sun, Sean X.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4471898/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26086542
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep11367
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author Si, Fangwei
Li, Bo
Margolin, William
Sun, Sean X.
author_facet Si, Fangwei
Li, Bo
Margolin, William
Sun, Sean X.
author_sort Si, Fangwei
collection PubMed
description A combination of physical and chemical processes is involved in determining the bacterial cell shape. In standard medium, Escherichia coli cells are rod-shaped, and maintain a constant diameter during exponential growth. Here, we demonstrate that by applying compressive forces to growing E. coli, cells no longer retain their rod-like shapes but grow and divide with a flat pancake-like geometry. The deformation is reversible: deformed cells can recover back to rod-like shapes in several generations after compressive forces are removed. During compression, the cell elongation rate, proliferation rate, DNA replication rate, and protein synthesis are not significantly altered from those of the normal rod-shaped cells. Quantifying the rate of cell wall growth under compression reveals that the cell wall growth rate depends on the local cell curvature. MreB not only influences the rate of cell wall growth, but also influences how the growth rate scales with cell geometry. The result is consistent with predictions of a mechanochemical model, and suggests an active mechanical role for MreB during cell wall growth. The developed compressive device is also useful for studying a variety of cells in unique geometries.
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spelling pubmed-44718982015-06-29 Bacterial growth and form under mechanical compression Si, Fangwei Li, Bo Margolin, William Sun, Sean X. Sci Rep Article A combination of physical and chemical processes is involved in determining the bacterial cell shape. In standard medium, Escherichia coli cells are rod-shaped, and maintain a constant diameter during exponential growth. Here, we demonstrate that by applying compressive forces to growing E. coli, cells no longer retain their rod-like shapes but grow and divide with a flat pancake-like geometry. The deformation is reversible: deformed cells can recover back to rod-like shapes in several generations after compressive forces are removed. During compression, the cell elongation rate, proliferation rate, DNA replication rate, and protein synthesis are not significantly altered from those of the normal rod-shaped cells. Quantifying the rate of cell wall growth under compression reveals that the cell wall growth rate depends on the local cell curvature. MreB not only influences the rate of cell wall growth, but also influences how the growth rate scales with cell geometry. The result is consistent with predictions of a mechanochemical model, and suggests an active mechanical role for MreB during cell wall growth. The developed compressive device is also useful for studying a variety of cells in unique geometries. Nature Publishing Group 2015-06-18 /pmc/articles/PMC4471898/ /pubmed/26086542 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep11367 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Si, Fangwei
Li, Bo
Margolin, William
Sun, Sean X.
Bacterial growth and form under mechanical compression
title Bacterial growth and form under mechanical compression
title_full Bacterial growth and form under mechanical compression
title_fullStr Bacterial growth and form under mechanical compression
title_full_unstemmed Bacterial growth and form under mechanical compression
title_short Bacterial growth and form under mechanical compression
title_sort bacterial growth and form under mechanical compression
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4471898/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26086542
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep11367
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