Coordination of siderophore gene expression among clonal cells of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

There has been great progress in understanding how bacterial groups coordinate social actions, such as biofilm formation and public-goods secretion. Less clear is whether the seemingly coordinated group-level responses actually mirror what individual cells do. Here, we use a microscopy approach to simultaneously quantify the investment of individual cells of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa into two public goods, the siderophores pyochelin and pyoverdine. Using gene expression as a proxy for investment, we initially observe no coordination but high heterogeneity and bimodality in siderophore investment across cells. With increasing cell density, gene expression becomes more homogenized across cells, accompanied by a moderate shift from pyochelin to pyoverdine expression. We find positive associations in the expression of pyochelin and pyoverdine genes across cells, with cell-to-cell variation correlating with cellular metabolic states. Our work suggests that siderophore-mediated signalling aligns behaviour of individuals over time and spurs a coordinated three-phase siderophore investment cycle.