Comparative analysis of ionic strength tolerance between freshwater and marine Caulobacterales adhesins

ABSTRACT Bacterial adhesion is affected by environmental factors, such as ionic strength, pH, temperature, and shear forces, and therefore marine bacteria must have developed holdfasts with different composition and structures than their freshwater counterparts to adapt to their natural environment. The dimorphic α -proteobacterium Hirschia baltica is a marine budding bacterium in the Caulobacterales clade. H . baltica uses a polar adhesin, the holdfast, located at the cell pole opposite the reproductive stalk for surface attachment and cell-cell adhesion. The holdfast adhesin has been best characterized in Caulobacter crescentus , a freshwater member of the Caulobacterales, and little is known about holdfast composition and properties in marine Caulobacterales. Here we use H. baltica as a model to characterize holdfast properties in marine Caulobacterales. We show that freshwater and marine Caulobacterales use similar genes in holdfast biogenesis and that these genes are highly conserved among the two genera. We also determine that H. baltica produces larger holdfast than C. crescentus and that those holdfasts have a different chemical composition, as they contain N-acetylglucosamine and galactose monosaccharide residues and proteins, but lack DNA. Finally, we show that H. baltica holdfasts tolerate higher ionic strength than those of C. crescentus . We conclude that marine Caulobacterales holdfasts have physicochemical properties that maximize binding in high ionic strength environments. IMPORTANCE Most bacteria spend a large amount of their lifespan attached to surfaces, forming complex multicellular communities called biofilms. Bacteria can colonize virtually any surface, therefore they have adapted to bind efficiently in very different environments. In this study, we compare the adhesive holdfasts produced by the freshwater bacterium C. crescentus and a relative, the marine bacterium H. baltica . We show that H. baltica holdfasts have a different morphology and chemical composition, and tolerate high ionic strength. Our results show that H. baltica holdfast is an excellent model to study the effect of ionic strength on adhesion and providing insights on the physicochemical properties required for adhesion in the marine environment.