Open AccessMetabolome Profiling Reveals Metabolic Cooperation between Bacillus megaterium and Ketogulonicigenium vulgare during Induced Swarm Motility
Author(s) -
Jian Zhou,
Qian Ma,
Hong Yi,
Lili Wang,
Hao Song,
Yuan Yang
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
applied and environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.552
H-Index - 324
eISSN - 1070-6291
pISSN - 0099-2240
DOI - 10.1128/aem.05123-11
Subject(s) - metabolome , bacillus megaterium , motility , biology , bacillaceae , metabolomics , bacillales , profiling (computer programming) , swarm behaviour , microbiology and biotechnology , computational biology , bacteria , biochemistry , bioinformatics , genetics , computer science , ecology , bacillus subtilis , operating system
The metabolic cooperation in the ecosystem ofBacillus megaterium andKetogulonicigenium vulgare was investigated by cultivating them spatially on a soft agar plate. We found thatB. megaterium swarmed in a direction along the trace ofK. vulgare on the agar plate. Metabolomics based on gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) was employed to analyze the interaction mechanism between the two microorganisms. We found that the microorganisms interact by exchanging a number of metabolites. Both intracellular metabolism and cell-cell communication via metabolic cooperation were essential in determining the population dynamics of the ecosystem. The contents of amino acids and other nutritional compounds inK. vulgare were rather low in comparison to those inB. megaterium , but the levels of these compounds in the medium surroundingK. vulgare were fairly high, even higher than in fresh medium. Erythrose, erythritol, guanine, and inositol accumulated aroundB. megaterium were consumed byK. vulgare upon its migration. The oxidization products ofK. vulgare , including 2-keto-gulonic acids (2KGA), were sharply increased. Upon coculturing ofB. megaterium andK. vulgare , 2,6-dipicolinic acid (the biomarker of sporulation ofB. megaterium ), was remarkably increased compared with those in the monocultures. Therefore, the interactions betweenB. megaterium andK. vulgare were a synergistic combination of mutualism and antagonism. This paper is the first to systematically identify a symbiotic interaction mechanism via metabolites in the ecosystem established by two isolated colonies ofB. megaterium andK. vulgare .