The role of a small RNA in biofilm formation
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Date
2010-12
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
An iron-regulated small RNA (sRNA), sRNAother, was recently identified in Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579. Many iron-regulated sRNAs are involved in maintaining iron homeostasis. In addition, some of these sRNAs are also involved in biofilm formation. The deletion of sRNAother, from the B. cereus ATCC 14579 genome leads to changes in cell wall morphology and antibiotic resistance (10). These findings led to our investigation of biofilm formation of B. cereus ATCC 14579 and B. cereus ΔsRNAother. Biofilm formation was measured both qualitatively and quantitatively at the liquid-air interface. Qualitative results showed differences in biofilm structure between wild-type B. cereus and B. cereus ΔsRNAother in media containing the iron chelator 2’,2’-dipyridal (dip). Whereas quantitative results showed that B. cereus ATCC 14579 had significantly greater biofilm formation than the B. cereus ΔsRNAother, there was no significant difference in biofilm formation between the cultures containing dip and those without. Therefore, indicating that sRNAother plays a role in biofilm formation.
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Keywords
Bacillus cereus, Antibiotic Resistance