Stigmatella aurantiaca is a member of myxobacteria, a group of gram-negative bacteria with a complex developmental life cycle.
Classification The bacterial nature of this organism was recognized by Thaxter in 1892, who grouped it among the Chrondromyces. It had been described several times before, but had been misclassified as a member of the fungi imperfecti. More recent investigations have shown that, contrary to Thaxter's classification, this organism is not closely related to Chrondromyces, and Stigmatella is currently recognized as a separate genus. Of the three major subgroups of the myxobacteria, Myxococcus, Nannocystis, and Chrondromyces, Stigmatella is most closely aligned with Myxococcus.
Life cycle S. aurantiaca, like other myxobacterial species, has a complex life cycle including social gliding (swarming), fruiting body formation, and predatory feeding behaviors. The bacteria do not swim, but glide on surfaces leaving slime trails, forming a mobile biofilm. It commonly grows on the surface of rotting soft woods or fungi, where it may form bright orange patches. During the vegetative portion of their life cycles, swarming enables coordinated masses of myxobacteria to pool their secretions of extracellular digestive enzymes which are used to kill and consume prey microorganisms, a bacterial "wolfpack" effect. The best studied of the myxobacteria, Myxococcus xanthus, has been shown to actively surround prey organisms, trapping them in pockets where they can be consumed. Roaming flares of M. xanthus can detect clumps of prey bacteria at a distance, making turns towards the clumps and moving directly towards them. Like other myxobacterial species, S. aurantiaca survives periods of starvation by undergoing a developmental process whereby the individuals of a swarm aggregate to form fruiting bodies (not to be confused with those in fungi). Within the fruiting bodies, a certain fraction of the cells differentiate into myxospores, which are dormant cells resistant to drying and temperatures up to 90 °C. Differentiation into fruiting bodies appears to be mediated by contact-mediated signaling. Under laboratory growth conditions, the ability to undergo differentiation to form fruiting bodies is rapidly lost unless the cultures are regularly forced to fruit by transferring to starvation media. Shaker cultures of S. aurantiaca permanently lose the ability to fruit. The complex life cycle of myxobacteria is reminiscent of the life cycle of eukaryotic cellular slime molds.
Genome structure Taxonomic identifier: 378806 See also: NCBI UniProtKB Stigmatella aurantiaca DW4/3-1, a common laboratory strain, has been completely sequenced (See NCBI record link given above). Its circular DNA chromosome consists of 10.26 million base pairs and has a GC content of 67.5%. 8407 genes have been identified, coding for 8352 proteins.
Cell structure The vegetative cells of S. aurantiaca are elongated rods typically measuring about 5–8 μm long and 0.7–0.8 μm wide. The fine structure resembles that of other gram negative bacteria. The cell surface consists of a cytoplasmic membrane with a typical triple layered organization and a cell wall. The cell wall consists of an outer triple layer and third dense monolayer in the periplasm. The myxospores are short, optically refractile rods measuring about 2.6–3.5 μm by 0.9–1.2 μm. The brightly colored, red or orange fruiting bodies comprise 1 to 20 spherical or ovoid cysts measuring 40–60 μm by 25–45 μm on top of a stalk measuring 60 to 140 μ high. Each red-brown cyst contains thousands of myxospores surrounded by thick, fibrous capsules. Dispersal of cysts is thought to benefit myxobacteria by ensuring that cell growth is resumed with a group (swarm) of myxobacteria, rather than as isolated cells. The stalks consist mostly of tubules which may represent the debris of lysed swarm cells, as well as some unlysed cells; very little fibrous material interpretable as slime is seen.
Ecology Stigmatella aurantiaca is found on rotting wood or fungi and is only rarely found in soil samples. Secreted and non-secreted proteins involved in their feeding behaviors, either identified directly or speculatively identified on the basis of proteome analysis, include enzymes capable of breaking down a wide selection of peptidoglycans, polysaccharides, proteins and other cellular detritus. Various other secreted compounds possibly involved in predation include antibiotics such as stigmatellin, which is toxic for yeast and filamentous fungi but not most bacteria, and aurafuron A and B, which inhibits the growth of various filamentous fungi. Stigmatella species hence appear in nature to help decompose otherwise insoluble biological debris. It is only distantly related to the cellulolytic myxobacteria, does not produce cellulases, and is strongly bacteriolytic. Therefore, Stigmatella consumes organisms that feed on wood rather that feeding on wood directly. Besides bacteria, its production of antifungal antibiotics suggests that Stigmatella species may feed on yeasts and fungi as well, or alternatively, may suggest that Stigmatella competes with fungi for shared resources. By producing antimicrobial compounds, Stigmatella may play a role in maintaining the balance of the microbial population in its habitat.
Current Research
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
