Stochastic Receptor Expression Allows Sensitive Bacteria to Evade Phage Attack. Part I: Experiments

@article{citeulike:2800086, abstract = {It has long been suspected that population heterogeneity, either at a genetic level or at a protein level, can improve the fitness of an organism under a variety of environmental stresses. However, quantitative measurements to substantiate such a hypothesis turn out to be rather difficult and have rarely been performed. Herein, we examine the effect of expression heterogeneity of {lambda}-phage receptors on the response of an Escherichia coli population to attack by a high concentration of{lambda} -phage. The distribution of the phage receptors in the population was characterized by flow cytometry, and the same bacterial population was then subjected to different phage pressures. We show that a minority population of bacteria that produces the receptor slowly and at low levels determines the long-term survivability of the bacterial population and that phage-resistant mutants can be efficiently isolated only when the persistent phage pressure >1010 viruses/cm3 is present. Below this phage pressure, persistors instead of mutants are dominant in the population. 10.1529/biophysj.107.120212}, author = {Chapman-Mcquiston, E. and Wu, X. L. }, citeulike-article-id = {2800086}, doi = {10.1529/biophysj.107.120212}, journal = {Biophys. J.}, keywords = {bacteria, e\_coli, persister, phenotypic\_heterogeneity, receptor, stochastic}, month = {June}, number = {11}, pages = {4525--4536}, posted-at = {2008-05-14 22:44:46}, priority = {2}, title = {Stochastic Receptor Expression Allows Sensitive Bacteria to Evade Phage Attack. Part I: Experiments}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1529/biophysj.107.120212}, volume = {94}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2800086 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2800086 TI - Stochastic Receptor Expression Allows Sensitive Bacteria to Evade Phage Attack. Part I: Experiments JF - Biophys. J. VL - 94 IS - 11 SP - 4525 EP - 4536 N2 - It has long been suspected that population heterogeneity, either at a genetic level or at a protein level, can improve the fitness of an organism under a variety of environmental stresses. However, quantitative measurements to substantiate such a hypothesis turn out to be rather difficult and have rarely been performed. Herein, we examine the effect of expression heterogeneity of {lambda}-phage receptors on the response of an Escherichia coli population to attack by a high concentration of{lambda} -phage. The distribution of the phage receptors in the population was characterized by flow cytometry, and the same bacterial population was then subjected to different phage pressures. We show that a minority population of bacteria that produces the receptor slowly and at low levels determines the long-term survivability of the bacterial population and that phage-resistant mutants can be efficiently isolated only when the persistent phage pressure >1010 viruses/cm3 is present. Below this phage pressure, persistors instead of mutants are dominant in the population. 10.1529/biophysj.107.120212 KW - bacteria KW - e_coli KW - persister KW - phenotypic_heterogeneity KW - receptor KW - stochastic AU - Chapman-Mcquiston, E AU - Wu, XL PY - 2008/06/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1529/biophysj.107.120212 ER -