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Rapid adaptation of Rhodococcus erythropolis cells to salt stress by synthesizing polyunsaturated fatty acids

  • Applied microbial and cell physiology
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Abstract

Bacterial cells are known to adapt to challenging environmental conditions such as osmotic stress. However, most of the work done in this field describes the adaptation of growing populations where the new generations acquire traits that improve their ability to survive. In the present study, the responses of Rhodococcus erythropolis cells within the first 30 min after exposure to osmotic stress caused by sodium chloride were studied. The cells changed the total lipid fatty acid composition and also the net surface charge in the 30 min following exposure. Surprisingly, the cells produced a high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids. In the presence of 7.5 % NaCl, these polyunsaturated fatty acids, mainly eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5ω3), arachidonic acid (C20:4ω6) and docosapentaenoic acid (C22:5ω3), comprise more than 36 % of the total fatty acids. The possible function of these very uncommon fatty acids in bacteria could be the decrease in the number of negatively charged groups in ion channels resulting in a repellence of the NaCl.

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Acknowledgments

CCCR de Carvalho and MPC Marques would like to thank the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) for financial support (programs "Ciência 2007" and "FCT Investigators 2013", and SFRH/BPD/64160/2009, respectively) and Prof. Susete M. Dias and Joana Duarte for the help in the GC-MS analysis. This work was partially supported by a Portuguese-German integrated action (A-15/11) awarded by the Conselho de Reitores das Universidades Portuguesas (CRUP) and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD).

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  1. Marco P. C. Marques

    Present address: Department of Biochemical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre for Biological and Chemical Engineering, Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal

    Carla C. C. R. de Carvalho & Marco P. C. Marques

  2. Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Nancy Hachicho & Hermann J. Heipieper

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  1. Carla C. C. R. de Carvalho
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Correspondence to Carla C. C. R. de Carvalho.

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de Carvalho, C.C.C.R., Marques, M.P.C., Hachicho, N. et al. Rapid adaptation of Rhodococcus erythropolis cells to salt stress by synthesizing polyunsaturated fatty acids. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 5599–5606 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5549-2

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