0534616 - MBÚ 2021 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Pospíšil, Jiří - Vítovská, Dragana - Kofroňová, Olga - Muchová, K. - Šanderová, Hana - Hubálek, Martin - Šiková, Michaela - Modrák, Martin - Benada, Oldřich - Barák, I. - Krásný, Libor
Bacterial nanotubes as a manifestation of cell death.
Nature Communications. Roč. 11, č. 1 (2020), č. článku 4963. ISSN 2041-1723. E-ISSN 2041-1723
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA19-12956S; GA MŠMT(CZ) LO1509; GA MŠMT(CZ) LM2018131; GA MZd(CZ) NV17-29680A
Research Infrastructure: ELIXIR-CZ - 90047
Institutional support: RVO:61388971 ; RVO:61388963
Keywords : outer-membrane vesicles * bacillus-subtilis * peptidoglycan * competence * expression * flagella * reveals
OECD category: Microbiology; Analytical chemistry (UOCHB-X)
Impact factor: 14.919, year: 2020 ; AIS: 5.565, rok: 2020
Method of publishing: Open access
Result website:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18800-2DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18800-2

Bacterial nanotubes are membranous structures that have been reported to function as conduits between cells to exchange DNA, proteins, and nutrients. Here, we investigate the morphology and formation of bacterial nanotubes using Bacillus subtilis. We show that nanotube formation is associated with stress conditions, and is highly sensitive to the cells' genetic background, growth phase, and sample preparation methods. Remarkably, nanotubes appear to be extruded exclusively from dying cells, likely as a result of biophysical forces. Their emergence is extremely fast, occurring within seconds by cannibalizing the cell membrane. Subsequent experiments reveal that cell-to-cell transfer of non-conjugative plasmids depends strictly on the competence system of the cell, and not on nanotube formation. Our study thus supports the notion that bacterial nanotubes are a post mortem phenomenon involved in cell disintegration, and are unlikely to be involved in cytoplasmic content exchange between live cells. Bacterial nanotubes and other similar membranous structures have been reported to function as conduits between cells to exchange DNA, proteins, and nutrients. Here the authors provide evidence that bacterial nanotubes are formed only by dead or dying cells, thus questioning their previously proposed functions.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0312790