Quorum Sensing Behavior in the Model Unicellular Eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Summary: Microbial communities display behavioral changes in response to variable environmental conditions. In some bacteria, motility increases as a function of cell density, allowing for population dispersal before the onset of nutrient scarcity. Utilizing automated particle tracking, we now repor...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2020-11-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004220309111 |
| _version_ | 1818400745149431808 |
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| author | Alexandra M. Folcik Kirstin Cutshaw Timothy Haire Joseph Goode Pooja Shah Faizan Zaidi Brianna Richardson Andrew Palmer |
| author_facet | Alexandra M. Folcik Kirstin Cutshaw Timothy Haire Joseph Goode Pooja Shah Faizan Zaidi Brianna Richardson Andrew Palmer |
| author_sort | Alexandra M. Folcik |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Microbial communities display behavioral changes in response to variable environmental conditions. In some bacteria, motility increases as a function of cell density, allowing for population dispersal before the onset of nutrient scarcity. Utilizing automated particle tracking, we now report on a population-dependent increase in the swimming speeds of the photosynthetic unicellular eukaryotes Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and C. moewussi. Our findings confirm that this acceleration in swimming speed arises as a function of culture density, rather than with age and/or nutrient availability. Furthermore, this phenomenon depends on the synthesis and detection of a low-molecular-weight compound which can be transferred between cultures and stimulates comparable effects across both species, supporting the existence of a conserved phenomenon, not unlike bacterial quorum sensing, among members of this genus. The potential expansion of density-dependent phenomena to a new group of unicellular eukaryotes provides important insight into how microbial populations evolve and regulate “social” behaviors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T07:41:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-50100e307de94f8e92b5c8bd76c50807 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T07:41:27Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj.art-50100e307de94f8e92b5c8bd76c508072022-12-21T23:11:02ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422020-11-012311101714Quorum Sensing Behavior in the Model Unicellular Eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtiiAlexandra M. Folcik0Kirstin Cutshaw1Timothy Haire2Joseph Goode3Pooja Shah4Faizan Zaidi5Brianna Richardson6Andrew Palmer7Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USADepartment of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USADepartment of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USADepartment of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USADepartment of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USADepartment of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USADepartment of Aerospace, Physics, and Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USADepartment of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USA; Department of Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USA; Aldrin Space Institute, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USA; Corresponding authorSummary: Microbial communities display behavioral changes in response to variable environmental conditions. In some bacteria, motility increases as a function of cell density, allowing for population dispersal before the onset of nutrient scarcity. Utilizing automated particle tracking, we now report on a population-dependent increase in the swimming speeds of the photosynthetic unicellular eukaryotes Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and C. moewussi. Our findings confirm that this acceleration in swimming speed arises as a function of culture density, rather than with age and/or nutrient availability. Furthermore, this phenomenon depends on the synthesis and detection of a low-molecular-weight compound which can be transferred between cultures and stimulates comparable effects across both species, supporting the existence of a conserved phenomenon, not unlike bacterial quorum sensing, among members of this genus. The potential expansion of density-dependent phenomena to a new group of unicellular eukaryotes provides important insight into how microbial populations evolve and regulate “social” behaviors.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004220309111CellMicrobiologyMolecular Microbiology |
| spellingShingle | Alexandra M. Folcik Kirstin Cutshaw Timothy Haire Joseph Goode Pooja Shah Faizan Zaidi Brianna Richardson Andrew Palmer Quorum Sensing Behavior in the Model Unicellular Eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtii iScience Cell Microbiology Molecular Microbiology |
| title | Quorum Sensing Behavior in the Model Unicellular Eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtii |
| title_full | Quorum Sensing Behavior in the Model Unicellular Eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtii |
| title_fullStr | Quorum Sensing Behavior in the Model Unicellular Eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtii |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quorum Sensing Behavior in the Model Unicellular Eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtii |
| title_short | Quorum Sensing Behavior in the Model Unicellular Eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtii |
| title_sort | quorum sensing behavior in the model unicellular eukaryote chlamydomonas reinhardtii |
| topic | Cell Microbiology Molecular Microbiology |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004220309111 |
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