Abstract

A facultatively filamentous bacterium was isolated from eutrophic lake water and was identified asFlectobacillussp. strain MWH38 (a member of theCytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroidesphylum) by comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Filament formation byFlectobacillussp. strain MWH38 and filament formation byFlectobacillus major, the closest known relative of strain MWH38, were studied in chemostat cultures under grazing pressure by the bacterivorous flagellateOchromonassp. strain DS and without predation at several growth rates. The results clearly demonstrated that filament formation by the two flectobacilli is growth rate controlled and thus independent of the presence of a predator. However, flagellate grazing positively influenced bacterial growth rates by decreasing bacterial biomass and thus indirectly stimulated filament formation. The results of investigations of cell elongation and filament formation byComamonas acidovoransPX54 (a member of the β subclass of the classProteobacteria) supported the recent proposal that in this species the mechanism of filament formation is growth rate controlled. The finding that the grazing defense mechanism consisting of filament formation is growth rate controlled in the flectobacilli investigated andC. acidovoransPX54 (i.e., in bacteria belonging to divergent evolutionary phyla) may indicate that this mechanism is a phylogenetically widely distributed defense strategy against grazing.