A Heritable Iron Memory Enables Decision-Making in Escherichia coli

Authors

Souvik Bhattacharyya
Nabin Bhattarai
Dylan M Pfannenstiel
Brady Wilkins
Abhyudai Singh
Rasika M Harshey

Language

English

Publication Date

11-28-2023

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2309082120

PMID

37988472

PMCID

PMC10691332

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

11-21-2023

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

The importance of memory in bacterial decision-making is relatively unexplored. We show here that a prior experience of swarming is remembered when Escherichia coli encounters a new surface, improving its future swarming efficiency. We conducted >10,000 single-cell swarm assays to discover that cells store memory in the form of cellular iron levels. This “iron” memory preexists in planktonic cells, but the act of swarming reinforces it. A cell with low iron initiates swarming early and is a better swarmer, while the opposite is true for a cell with high iron. The swarming potential of a mother cell, which tracks with its iron memory, is passed down to its fourth-generation daughter cells. This memory is naturally lost by the seventh generation, but artificially manipulating iron levels allows it to persist much longer. A mathematical model with a time-delay component faithfully recreates the observed dynamic interconversions between different swarming potentials. We demonstrate that cellular iron levels also track with biofilm formation and antibiotic tolerance, suggesting that iron memory may impact other physiologies.

Keywords

Escherichia coli, Iron, Anti-Bacterial Agents

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Bhattacharyya, Souvik; Bhattarai, Nabin; Pfannenstiel, Dylan M; et al., "A Heritable Iron Memory Enables Decision-Making in Escherichia coli" (2023). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 5355.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthgsbs_docs/5355