Swarming of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 without differentiation into elongated hyperflagellates on hard agar minimal medium.
Polar flagellated Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 demonstrated extensive spreading growth in 2 days on 1.5% agar medium. Such spreading growth of P. aeruginosa PAO1 strains was absent on Luria-Bertani 1.5% agar medium, but remarkable on Davis minimal synthetic agar medium (especially that containing 0.8% sodium citrate and 1.5% Eiken agar) under aerobic 37 degrees C conditions. Analyses using isogenic mutants and complementation transformants showed that bacterial flagella and rhamnolipid contributed to the surface-spreading behavior. On the other hand, a type IV pilus-deficient pilA mutant did not lose the spreading growth activity. Flagella staining of PAO1 T cells from the frontal edge of a spreading colony showed unipolar and normal-sized rods with one or two flagella. Thus, the polar flagellate P. aeruginosa PAO1 T appears to swarm on high-agar medium by producing biosurfactant rhamnolipid and without differentiation into an elongated peritrichous hyperflagellate.
Takahashi
Chihiro
C
Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
Nozawa
Takashi
T
Tanikawa
Taichiro
T
Nakagawa
Yoji
Y
Wakita
Junichi
J
Matsushita
Mitsugu
M
Matsuyama
Tohey
T
D000362:Agar / Q000737:chemistry; D003470:Culture Media; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005407:Flagella / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
D003470:Culture Media; D000362:Agar