title: Macromolecular fingerprinting of sulfolobus species in biofilm: a transcriptomic and proteomic approach combined with spectroscopic analysis.
abstract: Microorganisms in nature often live in surface-associated sessile communities, encased in a self-produced matrix, referred to as biofilms. Biofilms have been well studied in bacteria but in a limited way for archaea. We have recently characterized biofilm formation in three closely related hyperthermophilic crenarchaeotes: Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, S. solfataricus, and S. tokodaii. These strains form different communities ranging from simple carpet structures in S. solfataricus to high density tower-like structures in S. acidocaldarius under static condition. Here, we combine spectroscopic, proteomic, and transcriptomic analyses to describe physiological and regulatory features associated with biofilms. Spectroscopic analysis reveals that in comparison to planktonic life-style, biofilm life-style has distinctive influence on the physiology of each Sulfolobus spp. Proteomic and transcriptomic data show that biofilm-forming life-style is strain specific (eg ca. 15% of the S. acidocaldarius genes were differently expressed, S. solfataricus and S. tokodaii had ~3.4 and ~1%, respectively). The -omic data showed that regulated ORFs were widely distributed in basic cellular functions, including surface modifications. Several regulated genes are common to biofilm-forming cells in all three species. One of the most striking common response genes include putative Lrs14-like transcriptional regulators, indicating their possible roles as a key regulatory factor in biofilm development.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology of Archaea, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koerdt
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Orell
authors.forename: Trong Khoa
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Joy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wlodkowski
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karunakaran
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Biggs
authors.forename: Phillip C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Sonja-Verena
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Albers
mesh_terms: D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018441:Biofilms; D030562:Databases, Protein; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D019848:Gene Expression Regulation, Archaeal; D019766:Genes, Archaeal / Q000235:genetics; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D010933:Plankton; D020543:Proteome / Q000032:analysis; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D016944:Sulfolobus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D020543:Proteome