Emergence of two distinct subpopulations from Klebsiella pneumoniae grown in the stimulated microgravity environment

To isolate and characterize the two phenotypically distinct subpopulations from Klebsiella pneumoniae clonal cultures grown in the simulate microgravity environment.Here clonal culture of K. pneumoniae strain ATCC BAA-1705 was grown within a vertically rotating wall vessel bioreactor. Microscopic, colony staining, biofilm assays and quantitative proteomics were used to define the features of subpopulations.Two subpopulations were isolated based on colony appearance and bacterial morphology and indicated the different capability of biofilm formation and antibiotics resistance.These findings would raise a possibility of understanding the adaptive roles of bacterial subpopulations formed under certain conditions from the viewpoint of population variation.