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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2008, p. 2690-2699, Vol. 74, No. 9
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02809-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The R1 Conjugative Plasmid Increases Escherichia coli Biofilm Formation through an Envelope Stress Response{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Xiaole Yang,1 Qun Ma,1 and Thomas K. Wood1,2,3*

Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering,1 Department of Biology,2 Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas3

Received 12 December 2007/ Accepted 4 March 2008

Differential gene expression in biofilm cells suggests that adding the derepressed conjugative plasmid R1drd19 increases biofilm formation by affecting genes related to envelope stress (rseA and cpxAR), biofilm formation (bssR and cstA), energy production (glpDFK), acid resistance (gadABCEX and hdeABD), and cell motility (csgBEFG, yehCD, yadC, and yfcV); genes encoding outer membrane proteins (ompACF), phage shock proteins (pspABCDE), and cold shock proteins (cspACDEG); and phage-related genes. To investigate the link between the identified genes and biofilm formation upon the addition of R1drd19, 40 isogenic mutants were classified according to their different biofilm formation phenotypes. Cells with class I mutations (those in rseA, bssR, cpxA, and ompA) exhibited no difference from the wild-type strain in biofilm formation and no increase in biofilm formation upon the addition of R1drd19. Cells with class II mutations (those in gatC, yagI, ompC, cspA, pspD, pspB, ymgB, gadC, pspC, ymgA, slp, cpxP, cpxR, cstA, rseC, ompF, and yqjD) displayed increased biofilm formation compared to the wild-type strain but decreased biofilm formation upon the addition of R1drd19. Class III mutants showed increased biofilm formation compared to the wild-type strain and increased biofilm formation upon the addition of R1drd19. Cells with class IV mutations displayed increased biofilm formation compared to the wild-type strain but little difference upon the addition of R1drd19, and class V mutants exhibited no difference from the wild-type strain but increased biofilm formation upon the addition of R1drd19. Therefore, proteins encoded by the genes corresponding to the class I mutant phenotype are involved in R1drd19-promoted biofilm formation, primarily through their impact on cell motility. We hypothesize that the pili formed upon the addition of the conjugative plasmid disrupt the membrane (induce ompA) and activate the two-component system CpxAR as well as the other envelope stress response system, RseA-{sigma}E, both of which, along with BssR, play a key role in bacterial biofilm formation.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 220 Jack E. Brown Building, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122. Phone: (979) 862-1588. Fax: (979) 865-6446. E-mail: Thomas.Wood{at}chemail.tamu.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 14 March 2008.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2008, p. 2690-2699, Vol. 74, No. 9
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02809-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • May, T., Okabe, S. (2008). Escherichia coli Harboring a Natural IncF Conjugative F Plasmid Develops Complex Mature Biofilms by Stimulating Synthesis of Colanic Acid and Curli. J. Bacteriol. 190: 7479-7490 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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