An unprecedented discovery of cell fusion
Researchers uncover how microbial cells from two different species
combine to form hybrid cells

Date:
September 2, 2020
Source:
University of Delaware
Summary:
Understanding how bacteria interact is critical to solving growing
problems such as antibiotic resistance, in which infectious
bacteria form defenses to thwart the medicines used to fight
them. Researchers have discovered that bacterial cells from
different species can combine into unique hybrid cells by fusing
their cell walls and membranes and sharing cellular contents,
including proteins and ribonucleic acid (RNA), the molecules which
regulate gene expression and control cell metabolism.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Like humans, bacteria live together in communities, sometimes lending
a hand - - or in the case of bacteria, a metabolite or two -- to help
their neighbors thrive. Understanding how bacteria interact is critical
to solving growing problems such as antibiotic resistance, in which
infectious bacteria form defenses to thwart the medicines used to
fight them.


==========================================================================
Now, researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered that
bacteria do more than just work together. Bacterial cells from different species can combine into unique hybrid cells by fusing their cell walls
and membranes and sharing cellular contents, including proteins and
ribonucleic acid (RNA), the molecules which regulate gene expression and control cell metabolism. In other words, the organisms exchange material
and lose part of their own identity in the process.

This unprecedented observation, which was reported on Tuesday, Sept. 1
in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology, has the
potential to shed light on unexplained phenomena affecting human health,
energy research, biotechnology and more.

The research team, led by Eleftherios (Terry) Papoutsakis, Unidel
Eugene Du Pont Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, studied interactions between Clostridium ljungdahlii and C. acetobutylicum. These species of bacteria work together in a syntrophic system, producing
metabolites that are mutually beneficial to each other's survival.

The team found that C. ljungdahlii invades C. acetobutylicum. The two
organisms combine cell walls and membranes and exchange proteins and
RNA to form hybrid cells, some of which continue to divide and in fact differentiate into the characteristic sporulation program.

"They mix their machinery to survive or do metabolism, and that's kind
of extraordinary, because we always assumed that each and every organism
has its own independent identity and machinery," said Papoutsakis.



========================================================================== Previously, researchers have observed that bacteria could exchange
some material through nanotubes. The combination into hybrid cells
was unexpected.

"This is the first time we've shown this in this bacteria, and it's also
a new mechanism of how material is exchanged," said Kamil Charubin,
a doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular Engineering and first
author of the paper.

Although this phenomenon of interspecies microbial fusion is now being
reported for the first time, it is likely ubiquitous in nature among
many bacterial pairs.

So why do bacteria bother to fuse together? The simple answer is likely
because this process allows the microbes to share machinery that will
increase their odds of survival.

For example, some pathogenic bacteria -- those that can cause disease --
may borrow proteins from other antibiotic-resistant bacteria in order to
shore up their own resistance. Some bacteria might borrow machinery from
others in order to evade detection by the immune system. This could also
help to explain why some bacteria are difficult to culture, or grow for
study or medical diagnostic purposes. These difficult-to-culture bacteria
might combine with or work with and depend on other microorganisms for
their existence instead of growing and multiplying on their own.

The team's findings may influence understanding of the evolution of
biology because once bacterial species share machinery, they can evolve together instead of only evolving on their own, said Papoutsakis.

"These findings will guide new thinking in not just the field of
microbial evolution, but also toward biotechnological solutions that
can benefit the soldier," said Dr. Robert Kokoska, program manager, Army Research Office (ARO), an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's Army Research Laboratory. "These include studies
of how the human microbiome shapes soldier human health and cognition
and how microbial communities can be better designed for a broad range
of advances including strategies for reliable in- field biological
sensing, waste remediation and novel means of biosynthesis." This work
was supported by the Army Research Office (award no. W911NF-17-1- 0343,
and W911NF-19-1-0274) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-SC0019155).


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Delaware. Original
written by Julie Stewart. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kamil Charubin, Shannon Modla, Jeffrey L. Caplan, Eleftherios Terry
Papoutsakis. Interspecies Microbial Fusion and Large-Scale Exchange
of Cytoplasmic Proteins and RNA in a Syntrophic Clostridium
Coculture. mBio, 2020; 11 (5) DOI: 10.1128/mBio.02030-20 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200902115932.htm

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