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Single cell analysis of gene expression patterns during carbon starvation in B acillus subtilis reveals large phenotypic variation
Author(s) -
Jong Imke G.,
Veening JanWillem,
Kuipers Oscar P.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2012.02892.x
Subject(s) - biology , gene , phenotype , gene expression , genetics , carbon source , cell , population , fight or flight response , single cell analysis , computational biology , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , demography , sociology
Summary How cells dynamically respond to fluctuating environmental conditions depends on the architecture and noise of the underlying genetic circuits. Most work characterizing stress pathways in the model bacterium B acillus subtilis has been performed on bulk cultures using ensemble assays. However, investigating the single cell response to stress is important since noise might generate significant phenotypic heterogeneity. Here, we study the stress response to carbon source starvation and compare both population and single cell data. Using a top‐down approach, we investigate the transcriptional dynamics of various stress‐related genes of B . subtilis in response to carbon source starvation and to increased cell density. Our data reveal that most of the tested gene‐regulatory networks respond highly heterogeneously to starvation and cells show a large degree of variation in gene expression. The level of highly dynamic diversification within B . subtilis populations under changing environments reflects the necessity to study cells at the single cell level.