Roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus are small, predatory bacteria that grow within the periplasmic space of a host bacterium. Bdellovibrio has a biphasic life-cycle switching from a uni-nucleoid, growth-senescent ‘attack-phase’ to a novel, multi-nucleoid filamentous ‘growth-phase’, which elongates and divide...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Fenton, Andrew Karl
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11537/
_version_ 1848791299896901632
author Fenton, Andrew Karl
author_facet Fenton, Andrew Karl
author_sort Fenton, Andrew Karl
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus are small, predatory bacteria that grow within the periplasmic space of a host bacterium. Bdellovibrio has a biphasic life-cycle switching from a uni-nucleoid, growth-senescent ‘attack-phase’ to a novel, multi-nucleoid filamentous ‘growth-phase’, which elongates and divides, growing saprophytically within the periplasmic space of their prey. Little is known to date about Bdellovibrio developmental processes and cell division within this periplasmic niche. Recent publications have demonstrated that bacterial cytoplasms house highly organised matrices of protein structures, called the bacterial cytoskeleton. The Bdellovibrio processes of prey-cell entry, filamentous cell growth and division coordination brings cellular morphological changes and challenges that could be coordinated by cytoskeletal elements. Green Fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagging and gene knock out approaches were used to gain insights into the function of these elements including: an Intermediate filament like protein Ccrp, which has a role in the maintenance of cell morphology; two actin homologues, which appear to function at different points in the predatory cycle, MreB1 and MreB2; and a new type of cytoskeletal element designated ‘bactofilin’, which may have a role in cell division control. Recent advances in GFP technologies have led to the development of optimised GFP variants, such as mTFP1 and mCherry. These have been used to reveal previously unseen detail of Bdellovibrio development within prey. Bdellovibrio do not follow the familiar pattern of bacterial cell division by binary fission, instead divide synchronously at multiple sites along their length, once prey resources are depleted. This yields both odd and even numbers of progeny Bdellovibrio.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T18:26:19Z
format Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-11537
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T18:26:19Z
publishDate 2010
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-115372025-02-28T11:14:06Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11537/ Roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus Fenton, Andrew Karl Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus are small, predatory bacteria that grow within the periplasmic space of a host bacterium. Bdellovibrio has a biphasic life-cycle switching from a uni-nucleoid, growth-senescent ‘attack-phase’ to a novel, multi-nucleoid filamentous ‘growth-phase’, which elongates and divides, growing saprophytically within the periplasmic space of their prey. Little is known to date about Bdellovibrio developmental processes and cell division within this periplasmic niche. Recent publications have demonstrated that bacterial cytoplasms house highly organised matrices of protein structures, called the bacterial cytoskeleton. The Bdellovibrio processes of prey-cell entry, filamentous cell growth and division coordination brings cellular morphological changes and challenges that could be coordinated by cytoskeletal elements. Green Fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagging and gene knock out approaches were used to gain insights into the function of these elements including: an Intermediate filament like protein Ccrp, which has a role in the maintenance of cell morphology; two actin homologues, which appear to function at different points in the predatory cycle, MreB1 and MreB2; and a new type of cytoskeletal element designated ‘bactofilin’, which may have a role in cell division control. Recent advances in GFP technologies have led to the development of optimised GFP variants, such as mTFP1 and mCherry. These have been used to reveal previously unseen detail of Bdellovibrio development within prey. Bdellovibrio do not follow the familiar pattern of bacterial cell division by binary fission, instead divide synchronously at multiple sites along their length, once prey resources are depleted. This yields both odd and even numbers of progeny Bdellovibrio. 2010-12-10 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11537/1/Andrew_Fenton%27s_Thesis.pdf Fenton, Andrew Karl (2010) Roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus bacterial cytoskeleton MreB CCRP bacterial cell division
spellingShingle Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
bacterial cytoskeleton
MreB
CCRP
bacterial cell division
Fenton, Andrew Karl
Roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
title Roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
title_full Roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
title_fullStr Roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
title_full_unstemmed Roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
title_short Roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
title_sort roles of cytoskeletal proteins in the predatory life cycle of bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
topic Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
bacterial cytoskeleton
MreB
CCRP
bacterial cell division
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11537/