1. Exopolysaccharide production in Caulobacter crescentus: A resource allocation trade-off between protection and proliferation
- Author
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Taylor I Heckman, Rachel A Van Kessel, Jessenia Laki Chávez, Christina N Johnson, Bridget S Wulfing, Kathryn L Herr, Melissa E Marks, William A Gamroth, Emily Harvey, Alexis M Carey, and Blanchard, Jeffrey L
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Exopolysaccharides ,Anabolism ,Glycobiology ,lcsh:Medicine ,Biochemistry ,Physical Chemistry ,Bacteriophage ,Caulobacter crescentus ,Bacteriophages ,lcsh:Science ,Xylose ,Multidisciplinary ,biology ,Organic Compounds ,Monosaccharides ,Phenotype ,Cell biology ,Chemistry ,Phenotypes ,Bioassays and Physiological Analysis ,Infectious Diseases ,Experimental Organism Systems ,Lytic cycle ,Viruses ,Physical Sciences ,Prokaryotic Models ,Sorption ,Infection ,Research Article ,Yellow Fluorescent Protein ,General Science & Technology ,Carbohydrates ,Research and Analysis Methods ,Caulobacter ,03 medical and health sciences ,Polysaccharides ,Genetics ,Bacteria ,Catabolism ,Fluorescence Competition ,Organic Chemistry ,lcsh:R ,Organisms ,Chemical Compounds ,Biology and Life Sciences ,Proteins ,biology.organism_classification ,Luminescent Proteins ,Metabolic pathway ,030104 developmental biology ,Dehydratase ,lcsh:Q ,Adsorption - Abstract
Complex and interacting selective pressures can produce bacterial communities with a range of phenotypes. One measure of bacterial success is the ability of cells or populations to proliferate while avoiding lytic phage infection. Resistance against bacteriophage infection can occur in the form of a metabolically expensive exopolysaccharide capsule. Here, we show that in Caulobacter crescentus, presence of an exopolysaccharide capsule provides measurable protection against infection from a lytic paracrystalline S-layer bacteriophage (CR30), but at a metabolic cost that reduces success in a phage-free environment. Carbon flux through GDP-mannose 4,6 dehydratase in different catabolic and anabolic pathways appears to mediate this trade-off. Together, our data support a model in which diversity in bacterial communities may be maintained through variable selection on phenotypes utilizing the same metabolic pathway.
- Published
- 2018