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Cited by 273

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 67 of the 67 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Metabolic cross-feeding via intercellular nanotubes among bacteria

Open access
Pande, Samay, Shitut, Shraddha, Freund, Lisa, Westermann, Martin, Bertels, Felix, Colesie, Claudia, Bischofs, Ilka B., Kost, Christian·2015·Nature Communications

Abstract

Bacteria frequently exchange metabolites by diffusion through the extracellular environment, yet it remains generally unclear whether bacteria can also use cell–cell connections to directly exchange nutrients. Here we address this question by engineering cross-feeding interactions within and between Acinetobacter baylyi and Escherichia coli, in which two distant bacterial species reciprocally exchange essential amino acids. We establish that in a well-mixed environment E. coli, but likely not A. baylyi, can connect to other bacterial cells via membrane-derived nanotubes and use these to exchange cytoplasmic constituents. Intercellular connections are induced by auxotrophy-causing mutations and cease to establish when amino acids are externally supplied. Electron and fluorescence microscopy reveal a network of nanotubular structures that connects bacterial cells and enables an intercellular transfer of cytoplasmic materials. Together, our results demonstrate that bacteria can use nanotubes to exchange nutrients among connected cells and thus help to distribute metabolic functions within microbial communities. Some bacteria can form nanotubes to transfer proteins and plasmids between neighbouring cells. Here, the authors show that nanotubes can also mediate the exchange of cytoplasmic amino acids between cells of the same or different bacterial species.

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Crossref · 10.1038/ncomms7238

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Metadata

Authors
Pande, S., Shitut, S., Freund, L., Westermann, M., Bertels, F., Colesie, C., Bischofs, I. B., & Kost, C.
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2015-02-23
Volume
6
Issue
1
Pages
6238-6238
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2018672567
Cited by
273
References
67
FWCI
18.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
gold

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