Abstract
Bacterial Nanotubes for Intimate Sharing
Highlights
The recent report by Dubey and BenYehuda (2011) in Cell incepted and evidenced the presence of intercellular membranous bridges or nanotubes between proximal bacteria of same as well as different species taking Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Escherichia coli as model Gram positive and Gram negative organisms
By analyzing thin sections EM of the nanotubes and their disruption by SDS, authors enunciated that these conduits may involve direct cytoplasmic fusions of the adjacent bacteria secured by a multilayer structure comprising cell wall and plasma membrane
It is interesting to note that most of these features of nanotubes are pertinent to membrane vesicles (MVs) which frequently emerge from the cell wall of Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria
Summary
The recent report by Dubey and BenYehuda (2011) in Cell incepted and evidenced the presence of intercellular membranous bridges or nanotubes between proximal bacteria of same as well as different species taking Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Escherichia coli as model Gram positive and Gram negative organisms. In their study the team characterized hereditary transfer of non-conjugative plasmids and non-hereditary transfer of cytoplasmic traits such as green fluorescent protein (GFP) and antimicrobial resistance protein between neighboring bacteria which was dependent on relative distance between the cells and time.
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