文章基本信息

标题：Single-cell analysis reveals gene-expression heterogeneity in syntrophic dual-culture of Desulfovibrio vulgaris with Methanosarcina barkeri
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作者：Zhenhua Qi ; Guangsheng Pei ; Lei Chen 等
期刊名称：Scientific Reports
电子版ISSN：2045-2322
出版年度：2014
卷号：4
DOI：10.1038/srep07478
出版社：Springer Nature
摘要：Microbial syntrophic metabolism has been well accepted as the heart of how methanogenic and other anaerobic microbial communities function. In this work, we applied a single-cell RT-qPCR approach to reveal gene-expression heterogeneity in a model syntrophic system of Desulfovibrio vulgaris and Methanosarcina barkeri , as compared with the D. vulgaris monoculture. Using the optimized primers and single-cell analytical protocol, we quantitatively determine gene-expression levels of 6 selected target genes in each of the 120 single cells of D. vulgaris isolated from its monoculture and dual-culture with M. barkeri . The results demonstrated very significant cell-to-cell gene-expression heterogeneity for the selected D. vulgaris genes in both the monoculture and the syntrophic dual-culture. Interestingly, no obvious increase in gene-expression heterogeneity for the selected genes was observed for the syntrophic dual-culture when compared with its monoculture, although the community structure and cell-cell interactions have become more complicated in the syntrophic dual-culture. In addition, the single-cell RT-qPCR analysis also provided further evidence that the gene cluster (DVU0148-DVU0150) may be involved syntrophic metabolism between D. vulgaris and M. barkeri . Finally, the study validated that single-cell RT-qPCR analysis could be a valuable tool in deciphering gene functions and metabolism in mixed-cultured microbial communities.