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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2009, p. 1723-1733, Vol. 75, No. 6
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02171-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Nickel Promotes Biofilm Formation by Escherichia coli K-12 Strains That Produce Curli{triangledown}

Claire Perrin,1 Romain Briandet,2 Gregory Jubelin,3 Philippe Lejeune,1 Marie-Andrée Mandrand-Berthelot,1 Agnès Rodrigue,1,{dagger} and Corinne Dorel1,{dagger}*

Université de Lyon F-69622, INSA-Lyon, MAP, CNRS UMR5240, Université Lyon 1, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France,1 INRA-AgroParisTech UMR763, Bioadhésion et Hygiène des Matériaux, 25 Ave. République, 91300 Massy, France,2 INRA UMR1225, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, 23 Chemin des Capelles, 31076 Toulouse Cedex, France3

Received 19 September 2008/ Accepted 15 January 2009

The survival of bacteria exposed to toxic compounds is a multifactorial phenomenon, involving well-known molecular mechanisms of resistance but also less-well-understood mechanisms of tolerance that need to be clarified. In particular, the contribution of biofilm formation to survival in the presence of toxic compounds, such as nickel, was investigated in this study. We found that a subinhibitory concentration of nickel leads Escherichia coli bacteria to change their lifestyle, developing biofilm structures rather than growing as free-floating cells. Interestingly, whereas nickel and magnesium both alter the global cell surface charge, only nickel promotes biofilm formation in our system. Genetic evidence indicates that biofilm formation induced by nickel is mediated by the transcriptional induction of the adhesive curli-encoding genes. Biofilm formation induced by nickel does not rely on efflux mechanisms using the RcnA pump, as these require a higher concentration of nickel to be activated. Our results demonstrate that the nickel-induced biofilm formation in E. coli is an adaptational process, occurring through a transcriptional effect on genes coding for adherence structures. The biofilm lifestyle is obviously a selective advantage in the presence of nickel, but the means by which it improves bacterial survival needs to be investigated.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 11, Avenue Jean Capelle, 69621 Villeurbanne Cedex, France. Phone: 33 (0) 4 72 43 87 06. Fax: 33 (0) 4 72 43 15 84. E-mail: corinne.dorel{at}insa-lyon.fr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 23 January 2009.

{dagger} A.R. and C.D. contributed equally to this work.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2009, p. 1723-1733, Vol. 75, No. 6
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02171-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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