Nanotubes, intercellular highways of bacteria

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Our laboratory discovered and characterized intercellular membranous nanotubes formed among neighbouring bacterial cells. We provided evidence that via these junctions bacteria exchange cytoplasmic molecules including, antibiotic resistant proteins and DNA.

 

We showed that this exchange occurs not only between bacteria of the same species, but even between bacteria of different species. This is an entirely new concept that suggests that proximity between species provides an enormous potential for the emergence of new features.

 

Our laboratory is now engaged in defining the molecular components and the molecular cargo of nanotubes.

See also our ERC-Synergy project

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Major publications:

• Dubey and Ben-Yehuda, Cell 2011

• Mamou et al., Cell Reports 2016

• Dubey, Mali Mohan et al., Dev Cell 2016

• Stempler, Baidya, Bhattacharya et al., Nature Communications 2017

• Bhattacharya, Baidya et al., Cell Reports 2019

• Pal et al., Cell 2019

 

For more information, see the video: