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Division of labour during Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation
Author(s) -
Kearns Daniel B.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2007.06053.x
Subject(s) - biofilm , biology , bacillus subtilis , multicellular organism , bacteria , extracellular matrix , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , bacillus (shape) , population , phenotype , extracellular , cell division , matrix (chemical analysis) , genetics , cell , demography , materials science , sociology , composite material
Summary Biofilms are multicellular aggregates of bacteria that are organized by an extracellular matrix. A key determinant of biofilm formation by a variety of bacteria is the proper regulation and assembly of the matrix components. In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, Chai et al . present the surprising finding that the genes encoding the components of the extracellular matrix in Bacillus subtilis are expressed in only a subpopulation of cells. Their results indicate that biofilms contain specialized cell types that are differentiated by transcriptional regulation. The population heterogeneity that they observe is another significant example in a growing list of phenotypes that arise owing to bistable gene expression.