Providing new insights on the biphasic lifestyle of the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus through genome-scale metabolic modeling
Fig 1
Lifecycle of B. bacteriovorus HD100.
1) Prey location: B. bacteriovorus moves towards prey-rich regions. 2) Attachment: the predator anchors to the host cell, which leads to the infection. 3) Invasion: B. bacteriovorus enters the periplasm of the prey cell. 4 and 5) Growth in bdelloplast and development: the prey has a rounded appearance due to cell wall modification and B. bacteriovorus grows in the periplasm and replicates its DNA. B. bacteriovorus uses the prey cytoplasm as a source of nutrients. 6 and 7) Septation and development: the predator septates when resources become limited and it matures into individual attack phase cells. 8) Lysis: mature attack-phase cells lyse the cell wall of the bdelloplast, initiating the search for fresh prey. The complete cycle takes about 4 h.