10.5061/DRYAD.HB8B5
Weigert, Michael
University of Zurich
Kuemmerli, Rolf
University of Zurich
Data from: The physical boundaries of public goods cooperation between
surface-attached bacterial cells
Dryad
dataset
2017
Bacterial social interactions
siderophore
Single-cell behaviour
2017-06-05T16:06:58Z
2017-06-05T16:06:58Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0631
65247377 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Bacteria secrete a variety of compounds important for nutrient scavenging,
competition mediation and infection establishment. While there is a
general consensus that secreted compounds can be shared and therefore have
social consequences for the bacterial collective, we know little about the
physical limits of such bacterial social interactions. Here, we address
this issue by studying the sharing of iron-scavenging siderophores between
surface-attached microcolonies of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Using single-cell fluorescence microscopy, we show that siderophores,
secreted by producers, quickly reach non-producers within a range of 100
µm, and significantly boost their fitness. Producers in turn respond to
variation in sharing efficiency by adjusting their pyoverdine investment
levels. These social effects wane with larger cell-to-cell distances and
on hard surfaces. Thus, our findings reveal the boundaries of compound
sharing, and show that sharing is particularly relevant between nearby yet
physically separated bacteria on soft surfaces, matching realistic natural
conditions such as those encountered in soft tissue infections.
Data for Weigert et al._ManuscriptIncludes raw data for all figures
(including supplementary
figures).Weigert_Kummerli_ProcB_2017_RawData.xlsxCode_Weigert_et_alIncludes the code for single cell analysis. Please refer to the supplementary protocol for instructions.Code_Single_cell_analysis_Weigert_et_al.zipExample_dataContains example images needed for the supplementary protocol.