Surface hydrophilicity promotes bacterial twitching motility

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dc.contributor.authorO'Hara, Megan T.en
dc.contributor.authorShimozono, Tori M.en
dc.contributor.authorDye, Keane J.en
dc.contributor.authorHarris, Daviden
dc.contributor.authorYang, Zhaominen
dc.date.accessioned2024-09-09T12:36:19Zen
dc.date.available2024-09-09T12:36:19Zen
dc.date.issued2024-08-28en
dc.description.abstractTwitching motility is a form of bacterial surface translocation powered by the type IV pilus (T4P). It is frequently analyzed by interstitial colony expansion between agar and the polystyrene surfaces of petri dishes. In such assays, the twitching motility of Acinetobacter nosocomialis was observed with MacConkey but not Luria-Bertani (LB) agar media. One difference between these two media is the presence of bile salts as a selective agent in MacConkey but not in LB. Here, we demonstrate that the addition of bile salts to LB allowed A. nosocomialis to display twitching. Similarly, bile salts enhanced the twitching of Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in LB. These observations suggest that there is a common mechanism, whereby bile salts enhance bacterial twitching and promote interstitial colony expansion. Bile salts disrupt lipid membranes and apply envelope stress as detergents. Surprisingly, their stimulatory effect on twitching appears not to be related to a bacterial physiological response to stressors. Rather, it is due to their ability to alter the physicochemical properties of a twitching surface. We observed that while other detergents promoted twitching like bile salts, stresses applied by antibiotics, including the outer membrane-targeting polymyxin B, did not enhance twitching motility. More importantly, bacteria displayed increased twitching on hydrophilic surfaces such as those of glass and tissue culture-treated polystyrene plastics, and bile salts no longer stimulated twitching on these surfaces. Together, our results show that altering the hydrophilicity of a twitching surface significantly impacts T4P functionality.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThe research in the Yang laboratory is partially supported by the National Science Foundation grants MCB-1919455 and EFMA-2318093, as well as the CHRB award 208-07-23 to Z.Y. The Yang laboratory additionally received a pilot grant from the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic and Arthropod-borne Pathogens. M.T.O. was the recipient of the Presidential Scholarship Initiative from Virginia Tech and the David Lyerly Undergraduate Microbiology Research Fellowship from the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech. K.J.D. was the recipient of a GSDA and the Lewis Edward Goyette Fellowships as well as the Liberati Scholarship from Virginia Tech.en
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1128/msphere.00390-24en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10919/121093en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherAmerican Society for Microbiologyen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjecttwitching motilityen
dc.subjectPseudomonas aeruginosaen
dc.subjectAcinetobacteren
dc.subjectbile saltsen
dc.subjectdetergentsen
dc.subjectsurface propertyen
dc.subjecthydrophilicityen
dc.titleSurface hydrophilicity promotes bacterial twitching motilityen
dc.title.serialmSphereen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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