''Sorangium cellulosum'' is a soil-dwelling

Gram-negative Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. They are characterized by their cell envelopes, which are composed of a thin peptidoglycan cell wall ...

bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

of the group

myxobacteria The myxobacteria ("slime bacteria") are a group of bacteria that predominantly live in the soil and feed on insoluble organic substances. The myxobacteria have very large genomes relative to other bacteria, e.g. 9–10 million nucleotides except ...

. It is motile and shows

gliding motility Gliding motility is a type of translocation used by microorganisms that is independent of propulsive structures such as flagella, pili, and fimbriae. Gliding allows microorganisms to travel along the surface of low aqueous films. The mechanisms of ...

. Under stressful conditions this motility, as in other myxobacteria, the cells congregate to form

fruiting bodies The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

and differentiate into myxospores. These congregating cells make isolation of

pure culture A microbiological culture, or microbial culture, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture medium under controlled laboratory conditions. Microbial cultures are foundational and basic diagn ...

and colony counts on

agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori (''Gracilaria'') and "tengusa" (''Gelidiaceae''). As found in nature, agar is ...

medium difficult as the bacterium spread and colonies merge. It has an unusually-large genome of 13,033,779 base pairs, making it the largest bacterial genome sequenced to date by roughly 4 Mb.

Ecology

''S. cellulosum'' is found in soils, animal feces, and tree bark. The bacterium is a saprophyte deriving its nutrition from cellulose aerobically. It is a prolific producer of secondary

fungicides Fungicides are biocidal chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill parasitic fungi or their spores. A fungistatic inhibits their growth. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality, ...

and

bactericide A bactericide or bacteriocide, sometimes abbreviated Bcidal, is a substance which kills bacteria. Bactericides are disinfectants, antiseptics, or antibiotics. However, material surfaces can also have bactericidal properties based solely on thei ...

s that reduce competition in soil environments. In lab samples, ''S. cellulosum'' grows on agar medium only when certain cell densities are plated.

Quorum-sensing In biology, quorum sensing or quorum signalling (QS) is the ability to detect and respond to cell population density by gene regulation. As one example, QS enables bacteria to restrict the expression of specific genes to the high cell densities at ...

allows Sorangium to grow in communities sufficiently large to metabolize cellulose.

Secondary compounds

''Sorangium'' produces 50% of all known metabolites produced by myxobacteria. These include compounds that are antifungal, antibacterial, antibiotic resistant, or can even disable mammalian cells. These many compounds have sparked intense mining of its extensive

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

in exploration of possible industrial and medical applications. Some of these

secondary compounds Secondary metabolites, also called specialised metabolites, toxins, secondary products, or natural products, are organic compounds produced by any lifeform, e.g. bacteria, fungi, animals, or plants, which are not directly involved in the norma ...

include: *Ambruticin and Jerangolid A - Antifungal agents. *Chivosazol - a compound that destroys the actin skeleton of eukaryotic cells. It is effective against both fungal and mammalian cells. *

Epothilone Epothilones are a class of potential cancer drugs. Like taxanes, they prevent cancer cells from dividing by interfering with tubulin, but in early trials, epothilones have better efficacy and milder adverse effects than taxanes. , epothilones A t ...

s - Compounds that target microtubule function leading to

apoptosis Apoptosis (from grc, ἀπόπτωσις, apóptōsis, 'falling off') is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (morphology) and death. These changes incl ...

. Some derivatives are used to treat human cancers. *Myxochelin A - Antibacterial agent that acts by sequestering iron in the environment. *Soraphen A - An agent highly effective against plant-pathogenic fungi. It was extensively researched for agricultural use until it was discovered to be a teratogen.

Industrial fermentation Industrial fermentation is the intentional use of fermentation in manufacturing products useful to humans. In addition to the mass production of fermented foods and drinks, industrial fermentation has widespread applications in chemical industry ...

and

genetic manipulation Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...

of ''S. cellulosum'' is challenging.

Plasmids A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria; how ...

have been found to not function in ''S. cellulosum'' cells. Reproducible genetic alterations must be made directly into the single circular chromosome.

Clinical use

Metabolites In biochemistry, a metabolite is an intermediate or end product of metabolism. The term is usually used for small molecules. Metabolites have various functions, including fuel, structure, signaling, stimulatory and inhibitory effects on enzymes, c ...

secreted by ''Sorangium cellulosum'' known as

epothilone Epothilones are a class of potential cancer drugs. Like taxanes, they prevent cancer cells from dividing by interfering with tubulin, but in early trials, epothilones have better efficacy and milder adverse effects than taxanes. , epothilones A t ...

s have been noted to have antineoplastic activity. This has led to the development of analogs which mimic its activity. One such analog, known as

ixabepilone Ixabepilone ( INN; also known as azaepothilone B, codenamed BMS-247550) is a pharmaceutical drug developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb as a chemotherapeutic medication for cancer. History Ixabepilone is a semi-synthetic analog of epothilone B, a na ...

is a

U.S. Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

approved chemotherapy agent for the treatment of

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

.Ixabepilone
/ref>

References

External links

Type strain of ''Sorangium cellulosum'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2523108 Gram-negative bacteria Myxococcota