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Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycles

Most bacteria live in colonies, where they often express different cell types. The ecological significance of these cell types and their evolutionary origin are often unknown. Here, we study the evolution of cell differentiation in the context of surface colonization. We particularly focus on the ev...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: van Gestel, Jordi, Nowak, Martin A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4760940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26894881
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004764
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author van Gestel, Jordi
Nowak, Martin A.
author_facet van Gestel, Jordi
Nowak, Martin A.
author_sort van Gestel, Jordi
collection PubMed
description Most bacteria live in colonies, where they often express different cell types. The ecological significance of these cell types and their evolutionary origin are often unknown. Here, we study the evolution of cell differentiation in the context of surface colonization. We particularly focus on the evolution of a ‘sticky’ cell type that is required for surface attachment, but is costly to express. The sticky cells not only facilitate their own attachment, but also that of non-sticky cells. Using individual-based simulations, we show that surface colonization rapidly evolves and in most cases leads to phenotypic heterogeneity, in which sticky and non-sticky cells occur side by side on the surface. In the presence of regulation, cell differentiation leads to a remarkable set of bacterial life cycles, in which cells alternate between living in the liquid and living on the surface. The dominant life stage is formed by the surface-attached colony that shows many complex features: colonies reproduce via fission and by producing migratory propagules; cells inside the colony divide labour; and colonies can produce filaments to facilitate expansion. Overall, our model illustrates how the evolution of an adhesive cell type goes hand in hand with the evolution of complex bacterial life cycles.
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spelling pubmed-47609402016-03-07 Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycles van Gestel, Jordi Nowak, Martin A. PLoS Comput Biol Research Article Most bacteria live in colonies, where they often express different cell types. The ecological significance of these cell types and their evolutionary origin are often unknown. Here, we study the evolution of cell differentiation in the context of surface colonization. We particularly focus on the evolution of a ‘sticky’ cell type that is required for surface attachment, but is costly to express. The sticky cells not only facilitate their own attachment, but also that of non-sticky cells. Using individual-based simulations, we show that surface colonization rapidly evolves and in most cases leads to phenotypic heterogeneity, in which sticky and non-sticky cells occur side by side on the surface. In the presence of regulation, cell differentiation leads to a remarkable set of bacterial life cycles, in which cells alternate between living in the liquid and living on the surface. The dominant life stage is formed by the surface-attached colony that shows many complex features: colonies reproduce via fission and by producing migratory propagules; cells inside the colony divide labour; and colonies can produce filaments to facilitate expansion. Overall, our model illustrates how the evolution of an adhesive cell type goes hand in hand with the evolution of complex bacterial life cycles. Public Library of Science 2016-02-19 /pmc/articles/PMC4760940/ /pubmed/26894881 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004764 Text en © 2016 van Gestel, Nowak http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
van Gestel, Jordi
Nowak, Martin A.
Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycles
title Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycles
title_full Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycles
title_fullStr Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycles
title_full_unstemmed Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycles
title_short Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycles
title_sort phenotypic heterogeneity and the evolution of bacterial life cycles
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4760940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26894881
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004764
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