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Influence of osmotic stress on desiccation and irradiation tolerance of (hyper)-thermophilic microorganisms

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Abstract

This study examined the influence of prior salt adaptation on the survival rate of (hyper)-thermophilic bacteria and archaea after desiccation and UV or ionizing irradiation treatment. Survival rates after desiccation of Hydrogenothermus marinus and Archaeoglobus fulgidus increased considerably when the cells were cultivated at higher salt concentrations before drying. By doubling the concentration of NaCl, a 30 times higher survival rate of H. marinus after desiccation was observed. Under salt stress, the compatible solute diglycerol phosphate in A. fulgidus and glucosylglycerate in H. marinus accumulated in the cytoplasm. Several different compatible solutes were added as protectants to A. fulgidus and H. marinus before desiccation treatment. Some of these had similar effects as intracellularly produced compatible solutes. The survival rates of H. marinus and A. fulgidus after exposure to UV-C (254 nm) or ionizing X-ray/gamma radiation were irrespective of the salt-induced synthesis or the addition of compatible solutes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Birgit Amendt (Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, University Bonn) for carrying out the HPLC analysis, Dr. Stefan Kehraus (Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, University Bonn) for performing the NMR experiments, Denise Bachmann for doing the desiccation experiments with added compatible solutes, and Dipl. Ing. Thomas Hader (Institute for Microbiology and Archaea Center, University Regensburg) for technical assistance during cultivation of the cells in fermenters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology Division, German Aerospace Center (DLR e.V.), Linder Höhe, 51147, Cologne, Germany

    Kristina Beblo-Vranesevic & Petra Rettberg

  2. Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University, Bonn, Germany

    Erwin A. Galinski

  3. Faculty of Biology and Preclinical Medicine, Center for Electron Microscopy, University Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Reinhard Rachel

  4. Faculty of Biology and Preclinical Medicine, Institute for Microbiology and Archaea Center, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Harald Huber

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  1. Kristina Beblo-Vranesevic
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  2. Erwin A. Galinski
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Correspondence to Kristina Beblo-Vranesevic.

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Communicated by Michael Rother.

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Beblo-Vranesevic, K., Galinski, E.A., Rachel, R. et al. Influence of osmotic stress on desiccation and irradiation tolerance of (hyper)-thermophilic microorganisms. Arch Microbiol 199, 17–28 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-016-1269-6

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