THE TEMPERATE BACTERIOPHAGE SPß IN BACILLUS SUBTILIS BIOFILM FORMATION

In its natural soil environment, the multicellular biofilm of the bacteria Bacillus subtilis may encounter a diverse array of lytic and lysogenic bacteriophages which were estimated to out number bacteria 10:1. One of the questions we wish to answer is if biofilm formation is influenced by phage induction from within the biofilm. The prophage SPß, which resides the genome of Bacillus subtilis, encompass almost 3% of the bacterial genome. Upon induction of the SPßc2 phage, a morphological difference is observed in compare to a cured strain that lacks the SPß prophage. Furthermore, we could track phage inducing cells down to the single cell resolution. This work demonstrates that in natural conditions phage induction is capable of shaping the bacterial biofilm.