Suitability of the trans/cis ratio of unsaturated fatty acids in Pseudomonas putida NCTC 10936 as an indicator of the acute toxicity of chemicals

Stress responses and Physiological Changes of Salmonella enterica Serovar Enteritidis on Short-Term and Long-Term Benzalkonium Bromide Adaptation

Salmonella enterica is a common foodborne pathogen that poses significant safety risks across the world. And benzalkonium bromide (BK) is widely used as a disinfectant to sterilize the food processing equipment. It has been reported that sub-lethal concentration of disinfectants induced not only the homologous resistance but also cross-resistances. This work analyzed the induced resistances of Salmonella Enteritidis by short-term adaptation (STA) and long-term adaptation (LTA) to BK. We have demonstrated that inefficient sterilization exposes Salmonella Enteritidis to sub-lethal concentrations of BK, and adapts bacteria to a higher minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration. In addition, STA, but not LTA, to BK induced heterogeneous resistance to sodium hypochlorite, and cross-resistance to freezing, desiccation, and heating, which may be caused by the membrane composition change of Salmonella Enteritidis. This work could be useful to the optimization of cleaning protocol.

Response mechanisms of bacterial degraders to environmental contaminants on the level of cell walls and cytoplasmic membrane

Bacterial strains living in the environment must cope with the toxic compounds originating from humans production. Surface bacterial structures, cell wall and cytoplasmic membrane, surround each bacterial cell and create selective barriers between the cell interior and the outside world. They are a first site of contact between the cell and toxic compounds. Organic pollutants are able to penetrate into cytoplasmic membrane and affect membrane physiological functions. Bacteria had to evolve adaptation mechanisms to counteract the damage originated from toxic contaminants and to prevent their accumulation in cell. This review deals with various adaptation mechanisms of bacterial cell concerning primarily the changes in cytoplasmic membrane and cell wall. Cell adaptation maintains the membrane fluidity status and ratio between bilayer/nonbilayer phospholipids as well as the efflux of toxic compounds, protein repair mechanisms, and degradation of contaminants. Low energy consumption of cell adaptation is required to provide other physiological functions. Bacteria able to survive in toxic environment could help us to clean contaminated areas when they are used in bioremediation technologies.

Impact of phenolic substrate and growth temperature on the Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus proteome

We compared the Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus proteome during growth on 4-chlorophenol, 4-nitrophenol, or phenol at 5 and 28 degrees C, both for the wild-type and a mutant strain with mass spectrometry based proteomics. A label-free workflow employing spectral counting identified 3749 proteins across all growth conditions, representing over 70% of the predicted genome and 739 of these proteins form the core proteome. Statistically significant differences were found in the proteomes of cells grown under different conditions including differentiation of hundreds of unknown proteins. The 4-chlorophenol-degradation pathway was confirmed, but not that for phenol.

Impact of membrane fatty acid composition on the uncoupling sensitivity of the energy conservation of Comamonas testosteroni ATCC 17454

The fatty acid composition of pyruvate-grown Comamonas testosteroni ATCC 17454 was analyzed after growth at 30 and 20 degrees C and after half-maximum growth inhibition caused by different membrane-active chemicals at 30 degrees C. Palmitic acid (16:0), palmitoleic acid (16:1 omega7c) and vaccenic acid (18:1 omega7c) were the dominant fatty acids. At 20 degrees C, the proportion of palmitic acid decreased and those of palmitoleic and vaccenic acid increased. Saturation degree was also lowered when half-maximum growth inhibition was caused by 4-chlorosalicylic acid, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 2,4-dinitrophenol and, to a lesser extent, in the presence of 2,4-dichlorophenol, phenol and ethanol. It appeared that the dissociated forms of the former group of chemicals were preferentially incorporated near the head group region of the lipid bilayer, thereby somewhat extending the outer region of the membranes, and that the increased amount of bent, unsaturated fatty acids helped to maintain membrane integrity. Irrespective of how the decrease of the saturation degree was triggered, it caused electron transport phosphorylation (adenosine triphosphate synthesis driven by n-hexanol oxidation) to become more sensitive to uncoupling. Apparently, the viscosity and phase stability of the cytoplasmic membrane of C. testosteroni were maintained at the price of a reduced protection against energy toxicity.

Characterization of non-discriminating tetramethylammonium hydroxide-induced thermochemolysis–capillary gas chromatography–mass spectrometry as a method for profiling fatty acids in bacterial biomasses

Thermochemolysis using tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) as a method for profiling fatty acids (FAs) as methyl esters (FAMEs) was studied with respect to discrimination of bacterial fatty acid patterns in Gram-negative Pseudomonas putida in comparison with patterns obtained by classical preparation schemes (pressurized solvent extraction, alkaline saponification). A new, non-discriminating pyrolysis approach was used in these experiments. In this method, pyrolysis is carried out inside a deactivated stainless steel capillary constituting a part of the column train. This approach made it possible to distinguish analyte discrimination brought about by (i) the pyrolyzer set-up in conventional pyrolysis and (ii) chemical thermochemolysis reaction itself. Our results showed no significant discrimination for saturated, monounsaturated and cyclopropane FAs when using thermochemolysis temperatures up to 550 degrees C with the non-discriminating, capacitive-discharged based approach. Likewise, the cis/trans ratio of monounsaturated FAs was preserved. This is in sharp contrast to conventional pyrolysis systems (both Curie-point or flash pyrolyzers) using much longer thermochemolysis times. When using these systems, artificial monounsaturated FAMEs were formed during heat treatment resulting in biased species identification/classification. Hydroxy-FAs, chiefly bound covalently in lipopolysaccharides, could be almost quantitatively liberated by TMAH using non-discriminating pyrolysis (beyond 90%), whereas the recoveries were lower with conventional approaches. The new method makes it possible to profile fatty acids in very small amounts of both solid and liquid samples without significant sample preparation. This was exemplified by the results of TMAH-thermochemolysis of a fermentation broth taken from an in situ bioremediation reactor to monitor enhanced natural attenuation processes, and tomato roots which were subjected to cellulolytic bacteria attacks (Streptomyces), resulting in adsorption of these carboxymethyl-cellulose decomposing bacteria onto the root.

Changes in fatty acid composition in Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas stutzeri during naphthalene degradation

The effects of naphthalene on the whole cell-derived fatty acid composition of Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas stutzeri during naphthalene degradation were investigated. These strains differed in their abilities to degrade naphthalene and in 1,2-catechol dioxygenase activities. The cells of both strains reacted to the addition of naphthalene with an increase in the saturated/unsaturated ratio. The dynamic changes comprised also alterations in the percentage of hydroxy, cyclopropane and branched fatty acids. Upon the exposure of naphthalene, new fatty acids were detected.

Formation of trans fatty acids is not involved in growth-linked membrane adaptation of Pseudomonas putida

Fatty acid compositions in growing and resting cells of several strains of Pseudomonas putida (P8, NCTC 10936, and KT 2440) were studied, with a focus on alterations of the saturation degree, cis-trans isomerization, and cyclopropane formation. The fatty acid compositions of the strains were very similar under comparable growth conditions, but surprisingly, and contrary to earlier reports, trans fatty acids were not found in either exponentially growing cells or stationary-phase cells. During the transition from growth to the starvation state, cyclopropane fatty acids were preferentially formed, an increase in the saturation degree of fatty acids was observed, and larger amounts of hydroxy fatty acids were detected. A lowered saturation degree and concomitant higher membrane fluidity seemed to be optimal for substrate uptake and growth. The incubation of cells under nongrowth conditions rapidly led to the formation of trans fatty acids. We show that harvesting and sample preparation for analysis could provoke the enzyme-catalyzed formation of trans fatty acids. Freeze-thawing of resting cells and increased temperatures accelerated the formation of trans fatty acids. We demonstrate that cis-trans isomerization only occurred in cells that were subjected to an abrupt disturbance without having the possibility of adapting to the changed conditions by the de novo synthesis of fatty acids. The cis-trans isomerization reaction was in competition with the cis-to-cyclopropane fatty acid conversion. The potential for the formation of trans fatty acids depended on the cyclopropane content that was already present.

A transposon encoding the complete 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid degradation pathway in the alkalitolerant strain Delftia acidovorans P4a

The bacterial strain Delftia acidovorans P4a, isolated from an extreme environment (heavily contaminated with organochlorines, highly alkaline conditions in an aqueous environment), was found to mineralize 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid under alkaline conditions. Screening a genomic DNA library of the alkalitolerant strain for 2,4-D genes revealed the presence of the two 2,4-D gene clusters tfdCDEF and tfdC(II)E(II)BKA, tfdR genes being located in the vicinity of each tfd gene cluster. The results showed that the putative genes of the complete 2,4-D degradation pathway are organized in a single genomic unit. Sequence similarities to homologous gene clusters indicate that the individual tfd elements of strain P4a do not share a common origin, but were brought together by recombination events. The entire region is flanked by insertion elements of the IS1071 and IS1380 families, forming a transposon-like structure of about 30 kb, of which 28.4 kb were analysed. This element was shown to be located on the bacterial chromosome. The present study provides the first reported case of a chromosomally located catabolic transposon which carries the genes for the complete 2,4-D degradation pathway.