The Caterpillar of Very Bacteria
There is a 50% probability that you are currently eating some fat bacterial caterpillars that are glued to the inside of your mouth. With their paired tiny holdfasts, they cling to your cheek like a tomato hornworm's foot, fiercely grasping its stem. Of course, you are the main component of these bacteria's diet, not tomatoes and tomato leaves.
The oddity of these creatures goes far beyond just their entomological appearance. These caterpillars don't crawl, but they do have several cells, which is unique. Additionally, some of the co-joined cells physically differ from their companions, suggesting specialization (the nitrogen-fixing, fortified cells of cyanobacteria called heterocysts are the premier prokaryotic example).
Additionally, these bacteria pull off at least one more magic prank by tilting their universe by 90 degrees. To put it another way, they divide longitudinally rather than transversely as is typically done by, in the words of the researchers, "guillotining" themselves.
One of the numerous problems that these bacteria's peculiar lifestyle raises was recently addressed by a group of seventeen European and North American researchers: how did such unconventional cell division evolve? Could they then modify a comparable bacterium's DNA using this knowledge to have it pull off the same trick?
Journal of Environmental Microbiology
An open-access journal called the Journal of Environmental Microbiology publishes articles with the goal of figuring out how particular gene mutations affect phenotypes and how to use that knowledge to create novel therapeutic strategies. This publication attempts to close the gap between the lab and healthcare facilities through the articles it publishes.
Hang in There, Baby
Despite the fact that these specific bacteria are found in the mouths of mammals, they are a part of a larger supper club known as "Hanging On for Dear Life of this group.
Such bacteria have also been seen adhering to the exteriors of nematode worms in addition to the inside of your cheek, which may not seem as strange as it first appears given that roundworms make up four out of every five terrestrial animals.
However, the bacteria on nematodes are unicellular. Multicellular animal symbionts have only evolved in mammals' mouths and intestines. Additionally, it's noteworthy to note that the Neisseriaceae family of shape-shifting bacteria includes all of the bacterial caterpillars (Betaproteobacteria). One member of this family, N. gonorrhoeae, is perhaps best known for causing what was once known as a "social illness" (a term that to me connotes something quite different today). About 10% of humans harbor N. meningitidis, a different member that, sadly, can also cause meningitis, developmental delays, and/or mortality in children and young adults. Numerous additional Neisseria dwellers are unharmful mammals.
This family has at least three multicellular species, but only two of them produce caterpillars. The one that doesn't have a human hooked to it at either end is Alysiella filiformis. Following cell division, they remain connected like conjoined twins. They build long palisades by standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other twins.
In contrast, Simonsiella muelleri and Conchiformibius steedae are attached at both poles, giving them the appearance of caterpillars. In an unusual longitudinal arrangement, all three genera divide (see here for a phylogeny of the Neisseriaceae). To determine how that might have descended from an ancestor with transverse division, the Canadian and Austrian-led team began their investigation.
Perspective on Life Changing
The stunning guillotine move, in which new peptidoglycan is deposited from one end of the cell to the other in a solid layer, was discovered after the scientists infected the bacteria with fluorescent proteins that would disclose how cell wall production progressed. In Alysiella, a new wall developed from the unattached pole to the attached one, while in Simonsiella and Conchiformibius, a new wall developed from both attached poles toward the rounded middle of the caterpillar cells.
The addition, deletion, or mutation of a group of genes was among the DNA modifications that the three species shared. Actin and tubulin are represented by two of the genes, and other genes may operate as their regulators.
To determine if scscientists could induce N. elongata, closely related bacterium bacterium that generally divides in a rod-like shape, to divide longitudinally like its relatives, they made many of the same alterations to its genes. They were unable toientists could induce N. elongata, a bacterial related that generally divides in a rod-like shape, to divide longitudinally like its relatives, they made many of the same alterations to its genes. They were unable. However, the modifications did result in thicker cells with correspondingly larger septa.
Together, the evidence tends to indicate that the polarity of the cells rather than the axis of cell division was how the longitudinally diverging multicellular Neisserias achieved their feat. The transverse division plane appears to be longitudinal as you get shorter and fatter. It obviously leaves open the question of how the garrote came to be used as a guillotine.
MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
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Submission Link: https://www.pulsus.com/submissions/environmental-microbiology.html
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