Separate, Separated and Together: the Transcriptional Program of a Clostridium Syntrophy Leading to Interspecies Cell Fusion

The broad goal of this study was to examine the global changes in gene expression in Clostridium acetobutylicum and Clostridium ljungdahlii when they are grown in coculture compared to when they are grown in monoculture. Global changes in gene expression were also compared for this pairing when they were cocultured in a mixed well compared to when the two species were separated by a permeable membrane. An important sub goal of this study was to identify genes potentially involved in the formation of or heavily impacted by the interspecies heterologous membrane fusion events we have observed between these two species of bacteria.