Science and Research

Biofilm formation on human immune cells is a multicellular predation strategy of Vibrio cholerae

Biofilm formation is generally recognized as a bacterial defense mechanism against environmental threats, including antibiotics, bacteriophages, and leukocytes of the human immune system. Here, we show that for the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, biofilm formation is not only a protective trait but also an aggressive trait to collectively predate different immune cells. We find that V. cholerae forms biofilms on the eukaryotic cell surface using an extracellular matrix comprising primarily mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin pili, toxin-coregulated pili, and the secreted colonization factor TcpF, which differs from the matrix composition of biofilms on other surfaces. These biofilms encase immune cells and establish a high local concentration of a secreted hemolysin to kill the immune cells before the biofilms disperse in a c-di-GMP-dependent manner. Together, these results uncover how bacteria employ biofilm formation as a multicellular strategy to invert the typical relationship between human immune cells as the hunters and bacteria as the hunted.

  • Vidakovic, L.
  • Mikhaleva, S.
  • Jeckel, H.
  • Nisnevich, V.
  • Strenger, K.
  • Neuhaus, K.
  • Raveendran, K.
  • Ben-Moshe, N. B.
  • Aznaourova, M.
  • Nosho, K.
  • Drescher, A.
  • Schmeck, B.
  • Schulte, L. N.
  • Persat, A.
  • Avraham, R.
  • Drescher, K.

Keywords

  • Animals
  • Humans
  • *Vibrio cholerae/metabolism
  • Predatory Behavior
  • Biofilms
  • Fimbriae, Bacterial
  • Bacterial Proteins/metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
  • cholera infection
  • enteroid
  • host-pathogen interaction
  • immunity
  • organoid
  • type IV pili
Publication details
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.008
Journal: Cell
Pages: 2690-2704.e20 
Number: 12
Work Type: Original
Location: UGMLC
Disease Area: General Lung and Other
Partner / Member: UMR
Access-Number: 37295405

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