Biomarker panels for characterizing microbial community biofilm formation as composite molecular process

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 9;13(8):e0202032. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202032. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Microbial consortia execute collaborative molecular processes with contributions from individual species, on such basis enabling optimized molecular function. Such collaboration and synergies benefit metabolic flux specifically in extreme environmental conditions as seen in acid mine drainage, with biofilms as relevant microenvironment. However, knowledge about community species composition is not sufficient for deducing presence and efficiency of composite molecular function. For this task molecular resolution of the consortium interactome is to be retrieved, with molecular biomarkers particularly suited for characterizing composite molecular processes involved in biofilm formation and maintenance. A microbial species set identified in 18 copper environmental sites provides a data matrix for deriving a cross-species molecular process model of biofilm formation composed of 191 protein coding genes contributed from 25 microbial species. Computing degree and stress centrality of biofilm molecular process nodes allows selection of network hubs and central connectors, with the top ranking molecular features proposed as biomarker candidates for characterizing biofilm homeostasis. Functional classes represented in the biomarker panel include quorum sensing, chemotaxis, motility and extracellular polysaccharide biosynthesis, complemented by chaperones. Abundance of biomarker candidates identified in experimental data sets monitoring different biofilm conditions provides evidence for the selected biomarkers as sensitive and specific molecular process proxies for capturing biofilm microenvironments. Topological criteria of process networks covering an aggregate function of interest support the selection of biomarker candidates independent of specific community species composition. Such panels promise efficient screening of environmental samples for presence of microbial community composite molecular function.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacteria / metabolism*
  • Biodegradation, Environmental
  • Biofilms*
  • Biomarkers / metabolism*
  • Chemotaxis
  • Copper / chemistry
  • DNA, Bacterial / analysis
  • Genetics, Population
  • Homeostasis
  • Microbial Consortia*
  • Molecular Chaperones / metabolism*
  • Quorum Sensing*
  • Species Specificity

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • DNA, Bacterial
  • Molecular Chaperones
  • Copper

Grants and funding

This work was made possible as part of the META-BASE project financially supported by Vale Institute of Technology (www.itv.org), Brazil (MB, AH). GO is a fellow of the Brazilian National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development CNPq (309312/2012-4). The commercial entity emergentec biodevelopment GmbH (www.emergentec.com) provided support in the form of salaries for authors AH, AL and BM, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘authors contributions’ section.