Soft X-ray tomography reveals variations in B. subtilis biofilm structure upon tasA deletion

verfasst von: Anthoula Chatzimpinou, Anne Diehl, A. Tobias Harhoff, Kristina Driller, Bieke Vanslembrouck, Jian Hua Chen, Kristaps Kairišs, Valentina Loconte, Mark A. Le Gros, Carolyn Larabell, Kürşad Turgay, Hartmut Oschkinat, Venera Weinhardt
Abstract: Bacterial biofilms are complex cell communities within a self-produced extracellular matrix, crucial in various fields but challenging to analyze in 3D. We developed a “biofilm-in-capillary” growth method compatible with full-rotation soft X-ray tomography, enabling high-resolution 3D imaging of bacterial cells and their matrix during biofilm formation. This approach offers 50 nm isotropic spatial resolution, rapid imaging, and quantitative native analysis of biofilm structure. Using Bacillus subtilis biofilms, we detected coherent alignment and chaining of wild-type cells towards the oxygen-rich capillary tip. In contrast, the ΔtasA genetic knock-out showed a loss of cellular orientation and changes in the extracellular matrix. Adding TasA protein to the ΔtasA strain restored matrix density and led to cell assembly compaction, but without the chaining observed in wild-type biofilms. This scalable and transferable approach opens new avenues for examining biofilm structure and function across various species, including mixed biofilms, and response to genetic and environmental factors.
Organisationseinheit(en): Institut für Mikrobiologie
Externe Organisation(en): Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)
Max-Planck-Forschungsstelle für die Wissenschaft der Pathogene (MPUSP)
University of California at San Francisco
Typ: Artikel
Journal: npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
Band: 11
Publikationsdatum: 02.02.2025
Publikationsstatus: Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed: Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete: Biotechnologie, Mikrobiologie, Angewandte Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie
Elektronische Version(en): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-025-00659-0 (Zugang: Offen)

BibTeX

@article{6a32a53277444b34b0ac5fcc4afa3e8e,
title = "Soft X-ray tomography reveals variations in B. subtilis biofilm structure upon tasA deletion",
abstract = "Bacterial biofilms are complex cell communities within a self-produced extracellular matrix, crucial in various fields but challenging to analyze in 3D. We developed a “biofilm-in-capillary” growth method compatible with full-rotation soft X-ray tomography, enabling high-resolution 3D imaging of bacterial cells and their matrix during biofilm formation. This approach offers 50 nm isotropic spatial resolution, rapid imaging, and quantitative native analysis of biofilm structure. Using Bacillus subtilis biofilms, we detected coherent alignment and chaining of wild-type cells towards the oxygen-rich capillary tip. In contrast, the ΔtasA genetic knock-out showed a loss of cellular orientation and changes in the extracellular matrix. Adding TasA protein to the ΔtasA strain restored matrix density and led to cell assembly compaction, but without the chaining observed in wild-type biofilms. This scalable and transferable approach opens new avenues for examining biofilm structure and function across various species, including mixed biofilms, and response to genetic and environmental factors.",
author = "Anthoula Chatzimpinou and Anne Diehl and Harhoff, {A. Tobias} and Kristina Driller and Bieke Vanslembrouck and Chen, {Jian Hua} and Kristaps Kairi{\v s}s and Valentina Loconte and {Le Gros}, {Mark A.} and Carolyn Larabell and K{\"u}r{\c s}ad Turgay and Hartmut Oschkinat and Venera Weinhardt",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025.",
year = "2025",
month = feb,
day = "2",
doi = "10.1038/s41522-025-00659-0",
language = "English",
volume = "11",
journal = "npj Biofilms and Microbiomes",
issn = "2055-5008",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "1",
}