Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus HD100, a predator of Gram-negative bacteria, benefits energetically from Staphylococcus aureus biofilms without predation

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus HD100 is a predatory bacterium which lives by invading the periplasm of Gram-negative bacteria and consuming them from within. Although B. bacteriovorus HD100 attacks only Gram-negative bacterial strains, our work here shows attack-phase predatory cells also benefit from interacting with Gram-positive biofilms. Using Staphylococcus aureus biofilms, we show this predator degrades the biofilm matrix, obtains nutrients and uses these to produce and secrete proteolytic enzymes to continue this process. When exposed to S. aureus biofilms, the transcriptome of B. bacteriovorus HD100 was analogous to that seen when present intraperiplasmically, suggesting it is responding similarly as when in a prey. Moreover, two of the induced proteases (Bd2269 and Bd2692) were purified and their activities against S. aureus biofilms verified. In addition, B. bacteriovorus HD100 gained several clear benefits from its interactions with S. aureus biofilms, including increased ATP pools and improved downstream predatory activities when provided prey.