Project description:The antibiotic fosfomycin is widely recognized for treatment of lower urinary tract infections caused by Escherichia coli and lately gained importance as a therapeutic option to combat multidrug resistant bacteria. Still, resistance to fosfomycin frequently develops through mutations reducing its uptake. Whereas the inner membrane transport of fosfomycin has been extensively studied in E. coli, its outer membrane (OM) transport remains insufficiently understood. While evaluating minimal inhibitory concentrations in OM porin-deficient mutants, we observed that the E. coli ΔompCΔompF strain is five times more resistant to fosfomycin than the wild type and the respective single mutants. Continuous monitoring of cell lysis of porin-deficient strains in response to fosfomycin additionally indicated the relevance of LamB. Furthermore, the physiological relevance of OmpF, OmpC and LamB for fosfomycin uptake was confirmed by electrophysiological and transcriptional analysis. This study expands the knowledge of how fosfomycin crosses the OM of E. coli.
Project description:Red fruits are valued for their vitamin C and polyphenol content, but traditional heat preservation methods used in juice and nectar production can significantly reduce these components. Therefore, alternative non-thermal methods are explored to inactivate foodborne pathogens like Escherichia coli while maintaining the nutritional value. However, knowledge about the effects of these technologies on bacterial cells is limited. This study analyzed differentially expressed genes of E. coli ATCC 8739 inoculated in strawberry nectar after exposure to three treatments with two sets of parameters each, namely thermal treatment, high-pressure processing (HPP), and moderate-intensity pulsed electric field (MIPEF). The highest inactivation efficiency was achieved with HPP at 400 MPa, 1 min, reducing microbial counts by 5.0±0.3 log cfu/mL, and thermal treatment at 60°C, 200 s, achieving a reduction of 4.4±0.2 log cfu/mL, while no inactivation was observed with MIPEF at 6 kV/cm. Transcriptomic analysis showed that thermal and HPP treatments caused similar molecular stress responses in E. coli. In both cases, the most overexpressed genes encoded outer membrane proteins, which may lead to the activation of the envelope stress response. Despite no microbial inactivation was revealed after MIPEF treatment, strong transcriptomic responses were observed, particularly in genes related to membrane integrity and metabolic activity. Numerous overexpressed genes associated with ABC transporters, outer membrane proteins, and lipoproteins were identified, which could increase the strain’s virulence. This study provides insights into the stress response mechanisms induced by conventional and novel treatments. Nevertheless, further research is needed to investigate the long-term effects on bacterial populations.
Project description:Microarray hybridization of cDNA libraries obtained from exponentially growing or heat-shocked AW1.7 or GGG10 cultures was performed to compare gene expression of these two strains. Expression of selected genes from different functional groups was quantified by quantitative PCR (q-PCR). DnaK, 30S and 50S risobomal subunits were overexpressed in E. coli GGG10 relative to E. coli AW1.7 upon heat shock at 50M-BM-0C, indicating improved ribosome stability. The outer membrane porin NmpC and several transport proteins were overexpressed in exponentially growing E. coli AW1.7. Gene expression of a heat resistant strain, E. coli AW1.7, was compared to gene expression in a heat sensitive strain, E coli GGG10. RNA was isolated from late exponential cultures, or from late exponential cells heat-shocked by exposure to 50M-BM-0C for 15 min. Three independent biological repeats were analyzed, and technical repeats (dye-swap) were performed for two of three biological repeats.
Project description:Microarray hybridization of cDNA libraries obtained from exponentially growing or heat-shocked AW1.7 or GGG10 cultures was performed to compare gene expression of these two strains. Expression of selected genes from different functional groups was quantified by quantitative PCR (q-PCR). DnaK, 30S and 50S risobomal subunits were overexpressed in E. coli GGG10 relative to E. coli AW1.7 upon heat shock at 50°C, indicating improved ribosome stability. The outer membrane porin NmpC and several transport proteins were overexpressed in exponentially growing E. coli AW1.7.
Project description:Biotechnology suggests that microorganisms can be used as chemical factories that transform renewable feedstock into value-added chemicals. Conversion of glycerol, using direct transformation or fermentation, into valuable products such as polymers, surfactants, solvents, and chemical intermediates has attained growing interest in recent years due to the dramatic growth of the biodiesel industry. However, the use of cell factories could be limited by low growth and uptake rates under certain environmental conditions, thus understanding microbial nutritional requirements is a critical point to use them as cell factories. Here, we compared E. coli ATCC 8739 transcriptomic responses to glycerol under aerobic conditions in an optimized culture medium (Condition 3) and one evolved strain in glycerol using as a reference a glycerol-based medium (Condition 11). Our analyses revealed 478 and 431 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with log2 fold change (FC) > |2| and p Adjusted value < 0.05, for the bacteria growing in the optimized culture medium and the evolved strain, respectively. Among the DEGs, glp operon was found to be up-regulated as a response to glycerol uptake. Interestingly, between them, it was found genes that requires the use of phosphorous to ovoid the toxicity during glycerol consumption. Previously, we identified using a computational approach that phosphorous and nitrogen are essential compound that support high glycerol consumption in E. coli.