Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is a bacterial predator with a peculiar life cycle. During the attack phase, B. bacteriovorus is fast-swimming, searching for prey. When it finds a suitable prey bacterium, it attaches to the prey and invades it. Inside, the growth phase begins: B. bacteriovorus digests the prey, grows into a long filament, until it finally divides into a variable number of daughter cells. The newborn B. bacteriovorus bacteria swim away, while a only a bit of debris is left of its prey… This ultimately weird bacterium’s fascinating life style raises more questions than answers. How does it recognize its prey? How does it grow and divide into so many cells? How does the predator kill and digests its prey and can we learn something from that? We use sequencing methods, synthentic lethal screening and quantitative microscopy to study the life cycle of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.
B. bacteriovorus can kill a wide range of Gram-negative bacteria, including important pathogens such as Salmonella, Vibrio cholerae and Pseudomonas spp. There are potentially interesting mechanisms to be discovered in the interplay of prey killing, modification and digestion.